Wake Me Up when the Pain is Gone
by Fantastical394
Summary: Life has gone back to normal in the caves. Ian is with Wanda. Jared is with Melanie. They are content in knowing that they were it. The last pocket of human resistance on an alien planet. But what happens when a raid goes horribly wrong? Will the resistance survive? Will their love? Will they? Rated M for slight language, but it's like a low, low, M.
1. Chapter 1

**Even though the Host came out years ago, I still love the story, but not the ending. This is my form of Book 2. Please rate, review, comment, suggest, PM, or criticize. Feedback is my favorite thing, good or bad. Enjoy!**

Setting: It is a year after Wanda moved into Pet's body, except in this story, they never met Burns Living Flowers or any of his resistance. They still believe that they are the only resistance left. Enjoy.

Wanda's POV

"Ready...set...GO!" Aaron hollered in a loud voice. He quickly backed out of the way of the ball, understandably so. As soon as the soccer games started, it was dangerous to stand in the middle of the game room. No. I corrected myself. It was dangerous to stand in the way of the boys.

Ian, Jared, Kyle, Aaron, Andy, and Brandt were the scariest ones of all.

One time Andy started the game, but didn't get out of the way in enough time. Kyle started running towards the ball. When Kyle gets in the zone, he doesn't notice anything but the ball and the game. Kyle rammed into Andy with full force. Kyle landed hard on his butt while Andy flew straight into the wall. Andy was fine, no internal bleeding, but he was not the one they were worried about. As soon as they made sure that Andy was okay, Paige turned around to Kyle and, instead of punching him in the nose like everyone else would have done, kicked him hard in between his legs. Kyle fell to the ground in pain while Heidi grabbed Paige to prevent her from doing any more harm. I hadn't understood why Kyle was in so much pain at the time, but later Mel explained to me that getting hit there was excruciating for males. I wondered why.

Another time Jeb decided it was a good idea to play boys versus girls. Let's just say, it ended up with Brandt accidentally tackling me to floor. He apologized profusely, but Kyle had to physically restrain Ian from hurting Brandt, just like Heidi did to Paige, even when I insisted I was fine. The girls lost that game 15-2, both goals scored by Melanie.

Luckily this time, they were split down the middle, no team having the obvious advantage. Paige and Lily were the captains this time. Lily had Ian, Aaron, and Brandt. And Paige had Jared, Kyle, and of course, Andy. Jeb and Maggie were the goalies, they were almost permanently in these positions, because they were the best.

I sat off to the edge of the game room, keeping score. I never really liked soccer, even when I was in Melanie's body. But now, my body was to frail and delicate to handle the rough game.

Sunny sat beside me quietly. We had become quite good friends over the this past year. She opened up to me almost as much as she opened up to Kyle. Slowly, she was gaining bits of Jodi back. Sometimes, Sunny would say something and not remember. I knew from experience that when something like that happened, it was Jodi trying to take control.

Kyle had talked to me a few weeks ago and he decided that, if Jodi came back more, they would take Sunny out and send her to the Dolphins. I hated to do it to Sunny, but I understood Kyle's reasoning. It was the same thing that had happened between Mel, Jared, and I. I knew that Jared cared for me, and didn't want me to go, but his love for Melanie was so strong. Kyle felt the same way about Sunny. He liked her a lot, but he loved JodI more.

"Woo-hoo! Yeah!" Jamie hollered over the noise of the game. I made a mental note.

I-0, Paige. I laughed my dainty, little giggle as Jamie hollered again, this time it was a cry of sadness. 1-1. I corrected myself.

The game went on for about an hour, or so I thought. I can never really tell time in the caves, especially not in the game room. There was absolutely no natural light in there. The final score was 7-6, Paige. It didn't really shock me. As much as I loved Ian, Jared was almost unbeatable when it came to soccer.

"I don't know about y'all, but I am beat….and hungry" Jeb announced loudly to the group. Some grumbled in protest, but I could tell that most of them were exhausted. Slowly, the crowd started to trickle out. First Lucina carrying a sleeping Freedom in her arms, and Isaiah who followed close behind with sleepy eyes. Then went Lily and Heidi, then Trudy, Geoffrey, and Heath, then Andy and Paige.

"Quite a game." Sunny said quietly. I nodded in agreement. "Luckily, nobody got hurt this time, unless you count Kyle getting whacked in the nose, but it's been broken so many times, I highly doubt he can feel it anymore." She laughed out loud for the first time in a while. It was a great noise. It was a noise of happiness and peace in the caves.

"You making fun of me again Sun?" Kyle ran up to us, extending a hand to Sunny. She took it gingerly and he pulled her up with ease. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tight.

"Maybe…." She laughed and held her hand as the two left the room. Kyle had changed so much after Jodi got here. He was actually somewhat , nice. I found it mildly unsettling.

Suddenly, I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Ian's bright blue eyes staring down at me. I could feel myself getting flushed. Pet seemed to be easily embarrassed, even by the smallest of gestures, such as Ian putting a hand on my shoulder. So, now, every time Ian touched me, I blushed. He thought it was cute. I thought it was annoying.

"Hey there Wanda." He said, pulling me up easily with one arm. He did this all the time. He set me down, but I wasn't' paying enough attention. I only managed to get one foot down before he let go, but I lost my footing and slipped and fell. Oops! I thought to myself"Woah there. You okay?" Ian said, offering me a hand. His voice was joking, but his blue eyes were concerned. Not surprisingly. Ian was extremely overprotective of me. It got a little annoying sometimes.

"No. I can get up by myself." I said confidently, shooing Ian's hand away. Slowly, I got on my knees, and then my feet, and I felt Ian watching my every move. I laughed quietly. "You know, I may be small, but I can do things for myself." He rolled his eyes at my comment.

"Okay." He said sarcastically. I looked over and saw Melanie and Jared looking in our direction. Jared had Melanie's hand in his. Things had smoothed out over the past few months. My feelings for Jared were finally cleared up. I loved Ian, and Ian loved me. That was fact.

Melanie and I made eye contact and she smiled. She dragged Jared across the room with her, towards me."You guys want to go get something to eat?" Mel asked, looking down at me. I was still not used to being shorter than everyone else. Now, even Isaiah was my height, and he was still growing. I felt small, delicate, tiny. It was weird. I had gotten so used to Melanie's strong body that I still wasn't fully used to Pet's limits.

"I'm starving." Ian moaned loudly. Mel shot me a kind look. I shrugged. I wasn't really hungry, but I could eat a little.

"Alright. Let's go." Jared said quickly, at that exact moment, his stomach made a rude growling noise, as if to emphasize his point. I giggled and Mel gave a light chuckle.

"Fine we're going. We have to feed the beast!" Mel laughed as Jared rolled his eyes at his girlfriend. He pulled her close and planted a kiss on her forehead.

Ian wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders and our little group left the game room, right behind Violetta and Ruth Ann. We made our way through the dark, winding tunnels towards the kitchen. I could smell rolls baking from thirty feet away. We were back on cave rations now. We hadn't been able to go on a raid in a while, and it was obvious. We were back to using cactus soap that burned our skin and eating grainy rolls with onion soup.

I wasn't the only one who was thinking this.

"We need to go on a raid dude." Ian said to Jared. Jared turned around and nodded his head in agreement.

"I was just talking to Jeb about it before the game. We should leave tomorrow." Jared was looking at me now. I was now the most important person on every raid. I can't count how many times I saved their butts.

I nodded slowly mentally making a list of what we needed. We would need to bring weapons. For some reason, Seekers were becoming more and more hostile. Not just some. All of them. Many of them carried Glocks and even more of them carried smaller handguns. It was as if in the short month between our raids the souls had become more and more violent, more and more…...human.

We got in line for food. The kitchen was packed with hungry people laughing and talking.

"Here you go Wanda." Trudy said with a big smile as she ladled onion soup into my bowl. I flashed her a big smile back.

"Thanks Trudy!"

"Wanda! Wanda! Come over here!" I heard a familiar voice shout from across the room. Jamie was sitting next to Doc in the far corner. Wow! I thought to myself. He's getting so big. I can't believe he's turning sixteen in a month. I flashed him a smile just like the one I gave to Trudy. I sat down next to the boy that was basically my brother. I was followed by Ian, Jared, and Melanie.

Jamie began to chat on and on about his day in Sharon's class. He was excited because as soon as he turned sixteen, he didn't have to go to class anymore. He would get to work and do chores with us, which, compared to spending all day with Sharon, was fun. I tried to focus on his story, but I was having a hard time focusing on anything. I just sat their pulling apart a grainy roll, watching my soup get cold.

My mind was going in all sorts of different directions. I kept starting thoughts, but they kept fizzling out. My eyes wandered around the large cavern, examining all the cracks and crevices. I didn't even notice that someone was shaking my arm.

"Wanda. Wanda, are you okay?" Doc's gentle voice took. me out of my daze. I jolted a little and noticed that everyone at the table was staring at me. Ian was shaking my arm slowly. His eyes were concerned, but then again,Ian was always worried about me.

"Oh, oh yeah. I'm just tired." I was lying. I felt awful. My head was spinning and my stomach felt all knotted. I sat up and tried to smile, weakly, but the sudden movement made my headache even worse and I winced.

They all saw right through my lie. Just like always.

"Wanda. Are you okay?" Ian's brow was furrowed with worry. His piercing blue eyes were full to the brim with concern now. He picked up my hand and gently squeezed it.

"Oh. Yeah. Like I said. Just tired. I think I'm going to go to bed now. Not really hungry." I shrugged my shoulders and stood up from the table. Ian began to get up behind me but I gently pushed his shoulder down. I knew he wasn't resisting because I pushed him down with ease. Normally, my push would have no effect on his large body. "No. Ian stay hear and finish your dinner. I'll be fine."

Ian looked at me skeptically for a moment, but slowly nodded in agreement. "Okay. But I'll be with you soon."

"Great!" I tried to sound peppy, but it just came out as snappy. I instantly felt bad, but I didn't have the energy to apologize. In fact, I didn't have the energy to do anything. Suddenly, everything started spinning. Everything was a blur.

"Wanda?" "Wanda?" I heard voices around me, swirling into a vortex of meaningless noises. Shapes and colors were swirling around. I could vaguely here Mel's voice.

"What's happening to her?" Her voice was wracked with worry. I had no idea what was happening. Then, all of the sudden, the world stopped spinning, but only for just a moment. Then, it started to say.

"I think she's passing out." I didn't know who said it, but it was true. This was the last thing I heard before my head hit the floor and I blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Whoever is looking at this, THANK YOU for giving my story a chance. I really love this book and I love to write. Please, please give me feedback! Please comment, review, follow, favorite,PM, or criticize me. Feedback is feedback, and it always makes my day! Please enjoy!**

Mel's POV

"Wanda!" I cried. I dropped down to my knees next to her unconscious form. Ian dropped down right next to me and cradled Wanda's head in his lap. She was so small compared to him. She was so small compared to everyone. I grabbed her tiny hand and gently shook her arm. "Wanda?" This time I said it quietly, almost a whisper. "Wanda?"

"What happened?" Doc knelt down across from me, his eyes were wide and confused, and he was feeling her pulse. He nodded gently whenever he touched her wrist, which I took as a sign that she had a pulse.

Good. I thought. Because if she died, right here, right now, I would never forgive myself, even though it wasn't my fault. I promised her I wouldn't let her die, and I never break a promise.

"Sh….she just collapsed." Ian told him with a worried voice. I felt bad for him. He cared so badly about Wanda. I can't imagine how I would be if Jared just collapsed. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know yet. We should take her back to the hospital, so I can check her." Doc shot Ian a knowing look. Ian looked down at Wanda. He gently scooped her up in his muscular arms, just as he had done many time before. Slowly he followed Doc out of the kitchen towards the hospital.

"Here." I looked up and saw Jared staring at me with his gorgeous brown eyes. He held an outstretched hand towards me. I grabbed it and pulled myself up. I tried to give him a smile, but I was to nervous about Wanda to do it.

Over this past year, we had become sisters. Not biological, of course. But in the caves, blood didn't matter. Everyone was your family. But Wanda and I, we were particularly close. We shared a body for goodness sake!

"What do you think is wrong with her?" He asked me, breaking me out of my thought.

"I don't know. She's been looking pale, but her new body is always pale."

"Maybe she hasn't been eating?"

"Huh." I said gruffly. I hadn't thought about that, but now that I did, it made sense. For the last few meals, all Wanda has done was nibble at her roll. I knew it wasn't just because we were back on cave rations. She always ate anything she was served. It wasn't like her. "Maybe."

"Finish eating Mel." I heard Jamie's voice behind me. It was getting deeper and deeper everyday. I turned and looked at him.

"I'm not hungry." I said weakly, shrugging my shoulders. Jamie eyed me skeptically. Jared just rolled his eyes.

"You're lying. You haven't eaten anything all day." Jared told me in a serious tone. He grabbed my shoulders and turned me toward the table, slowly pushing me towards it. He gently pushed me down onto my seat. "Eat."

"I'm fine guys. Really." I to,d them, pushing my food away. Jamie and Jared gave me matching stares. Wow. They were getting to be so alike these days. It was kind of weird. They held their gazes on me, making me shift uncomfortably.

"Fine." I grumbled.

Jared smirked and pushed my food back towards me, watching as I picked up me my spoon and began to eat my soup, which was now cold.

"We'll go check on Wanda after your done." Jared reassured me. I noticed that he had already eaten his meal before Wanda had collapsed. I shoveled down my food quickly, barely swallowing between bites. I almost started choking at one point.

I set down my spoon. I was done with my food. I grabbed mine and Wanda's dishes and brought hem to the dish basket. Jared followed close behind me with his and Ian's dishes. Jamie was the last to throw his dishes in with a loud clunk.

Without asking either of them, I turned and walked toward the exit, focusing on my destination: the hospital, Wanda. When I hit the exit, I began to jog.

I jogged down the dark tunnel, I knew the way of these caves by heart now. I ran out into the main plaza. It was dark in there, but not nearly as dark as the tunnel. I turned and broke out in a run down the south tunnel. I heard footsteps behind me, but I didn't bother turning. I knew it was Jamie and Jared. It seemed like it took ages to get to the hospital, but I finally began to see the dim light at the end of the tunnel.

I ran in at full speed, almost knocking over the first cot by the entrance. I took a moment to process the scene, letting my head, legs, and heart rest.

Wanda was lying on a cot in the middle of the room, her body still unconscious. Ian was standing by her head, stroking her golden hair. Doc was was pressing lightly on her abdomen, his face creased with worry. Both men looked up at me with scared eyes as I came in.

"What's wrong?" I pleaded as Jared ran in, followed by Jamie. "Doc, what's wrong?"

"Wanda has free fluid in her abdome,n it's tender. I can feel it." He said this with a somber tone. His eyes were sad.

"And, what is bad about that?" Jamie inquired, not sure of what this meant. To be honest, at this point. I was to nervous to understand it, but not Jared. He nodded knowingly, a look of surprise and fear filling his big brown eyes.

"What I mean is…" Doc said "there is blood in Wanda's abdomen, blood that should not be there. She is bleeding internally. If she keeps bleeding like this, she will die." His voice broke on the last word. His hands were shaking. He had already almost lost Wanda once, it was clear he didn't want to go through it again.

"No." I said quietly, my eyes pooling with tears. Wanda could not die. She could not. Jamie next to me was staring at the wall behind Doc, not saying anything. This could not be true.

"How did it happen?" Jamie whispered.

"On our last raid," Ian choked out. "On our last raid, we met a group of Seekers, a group that carried guns. We weren't quick enough, and they saw Brandt's eyes. They pulled out their guns, and nobody got shot, b-b-but, after they ran out of bullets, a fight broke out." Ian was crying now, his eyes red and his cheeks wet.

"During the fight, Wanda took a hard hit to the stomach and flew into the wall." Jared finished Ian's story. "She got right back up, and we thought she was fine. She seemed fine. She was fine. We didn't think to have her checked."

Ian looked down and wiped away one of his tears that had fallen onto Wanda's forehead. He was never this emotional. Wanda was clearly just as important to him, if not more, than she was to him.

"Is there any way to cure it?" Jared said. He put an arm around my waist and pulled me close. He knew it comforted me when he was near. "Any way at all?"

"We need Heal, but our store is empty." Doc spoke quietly, avoiding our sad eyes.

"Well then it's simple. We need to get more heal." Jared announced.

"It will be nearly impossible without Wanda." Ian said in a hollow voice, his eyes not straying from Wanda's gentle face. "We need her to talk to the souls."

"Oh. Wait, what about Sunny?"

"No. Not Sunny. She's to scared." I said softly.

"And Kyle would never allow it." Ian added.

Jared grunted. "Well then I guess we'll have to do it the old fashioned way."

"The old fashioned way?" Jamie asked quizzically, his eyes still trained on he wall.

"Me, Ian, Kyle, going out into the alien world. Just like it was before Wanda came."

"It worked before. It can work again." Jeb's voice startled us. We all looked at him with sadness in our eyes. "Yeah. I heard the whole thing." He said, answering Jared's question before he could ask it. He entered into the light from the dark tunnel. He looked exhausted. "I'm so sorry kid." He leaned over Wanda and whispered. He stood up straight and faced us.

"You'll need to go tonight. She doesn't have much time."

"I'll go get Kyle." Jared said, letting go of me, much to my despair, and running out of the dimly lit room.

Jeb waited until Jared's footsteps were far away before he turned his attention to Ian, who still had yet to look up, but he had stopped crying. His face was blank and tear-stained. His hands were trembling.

"You need to go get ready." Jeb told him.

"No." Ian said flatly.

"Yes you do Ian."

"No I do not."

"Ian." Jeb told him firmly. "This is my house you are in. You respect what I tell you. Now they need you out there."

Ian looked up from Wanda for the first time. His green eyes were terrified. "But SHE needs me here." His hands were now holding her face.

"Ian. She's unconscious, probably will be until we heal her." Doc told us. "She won't notice if you're gone."

Ian pondered this for a moment. Then he straightened up and looked at Jeb. "Fine. I'll go, but," he looked directly at me this time. "You need to stay with her, come and see her every hour or so. Make sure she is okay."

I nodded in agreement. Even if Ian had been here, I would have still stayed by Wanda's side. No questions asked.

"Okay then." Jeb said, satisfied. "See you soon. Good luck." He patted Ian's shoulder and left the hospital.

Jamie looked at me with wide eyes, "I can stay the night, if you want to sleep Mel." He said, his eyelids drooping.

"No kid." I told him softly. "You sleep. I'll be fine." he eyed me again. "I promise." I told him, reading his expression. He eyed me again, but finally nodded.

"Okay. Fine." He said slowly. "Good luck." He said to Ian. "I love you Wanda." Jamie picked up her hand and shook it gently. He turned and left, slowly.

"Ian?" I looked at him. "You should go get ready. I'll be with her." I said it in the most sincere way I knew how.

"I know. I just," he said."I can't leave her. If she dies while I'm gone, I'll never forgive myself." He stood slowly. "But I know I have to."

I smiled weakly. He really loved her.

He looked straight at Wanda's face. He brushed a few strands of golden hair away from her eyes, and tried to stop his shaking.

"You. Are. Not. Leaving. Me." He said loudly, but with a gentle tone. Then, he bent down a placed a soft kiss on Wanda's perfect pink lips. "I love you too much." He whispered.

Then, he stood up straight and sealed stiffly out of the room, not looking back. I'm pretty sure it was too hard for him.

I looked down at Wanda's unconscious form and sighed. She didn't deserve this.

I yawned. I had lied to Jamie. I was absolutely exhausted, but I wasn't going to let anyone know that. Luckily for me, I didn't have to. Doc read my expression. And knew how I felt.

"Go." He told me. "Go, say goodbye to Jared. Go get some rest. I'll watch her." He was now holding her hand. I flashed him a grateful look and headed out of the hospital. I followed the familiar path towards the cave Jared and I shared. I hoped he was still there. I wanted to say goodbye in private.

I made it down to where the sleeping caves were. I pushed aside the new door we had got to block the entrance. I pushed it aside slowly. Jared was in there, putting a few things into his backpack.

He looked up at me and gave me a wary smile. He walked over to me, grabbed my waste, and pulled me into a deep kiss. Every kiss we shared burned with fire and passion. It made every fiber of my being tingle and every hair on my body stand on end. Our love was electric. Burning. Firey.

"Promise me you'll be safe." I said quietly, my face buried in his muscular chest.

"I promise." He breathed into my hair, squeezing me even tighter. "I will come back to you. I will always come back to you."

"You have to get going." I said gently, pulling away from his embrace. I wanted to stay there forever, to live in his arms, breath in his scent, feel his warmth, but I couldn't. We needed to help Wanda now.

"I know," he said gruffly. He picked up his bag off the bed and slung it over his shoulder. He walked towards the door. Suddenly, he turned back to me, with a sincere look in his eyes.

"I love you."

"I love you too."


	3. Chapter 3

**i hope people enjoy the story. I decided to write this Fanfic because I have read every other Host one out there. I hope you can enjoy the fresh look. Please let me know what you think!**

 _Ian's POV_

 _"We need to go." Dylan said impatiently, staring us down. He didn't have the gentlest touch when it came to…...well, anything. He didn't seem to care what Any of our family, or anyone thought of him._

 _"We're ready Dylan. Jeez! Calm down." Kyle spat back sarcastically. He always knew how to push our brother's buttons, and so did James, my other brother. Whenever they worked together to piss of Dylan, all hell broke loose. And I hated it. Dylan was scary when he was mean. I mean, he didn't hit me or anything. He was just scary._

 _"Calm down? Calm down?" Dylan scoffed loudly. "I'll calm down when aliens stop invading our planet Kyle!"_

 _"Now boys,stop it right now. You may be in your twenties, but I am still in charge here." Our mother interrupted us. "You're scaring your sister." She told us sternly. I looked down and saw our little seven year old sister cowering behind our mom's legs, her whole body shaking. Yelling scared her._

 _I felt bad for her. Nothing in her life made sense. One day she was just a happy little kid, and then everything changed. In the middle of the night her mom woke her up, packed up all of her clothes, and her whole family was about to leave their house, never looking back._

 _"Yeah boys. Listen to yer mom." Our dad said loudly, coming into the dark kitchen from the hall. He had two large duffel bags in his hands. He set them down on the floor and walked over to my mom. He wrapped his strong arms around her and gave her a big hug. I hadn't noticed before, but my mom was crying silently._

 _"But Dylan is right. We need to get a move on. They could be here any minute." My other brother James grumbled quietly. He said a quiet curse about the parasites under his breath, making sure our little sister couldn't hear, but I could hear little bits of it, which included "Stupid little shits, and fuckin' parasites."_

 _Oh, my brother had a way with words. Not._

 _Tonight was the night._

 _Tonight it was official. They were going into hiding. They were stowaways, refugees. A resistance. They were some of the last humans on a now alien planet. The O'Shea family was now a group of criminals._

 _Tomorrow we were going to be homeless._

 _Ian couldn't believe it. He had lived 20 years of his life as just a normal human. Now, everything changed._

Present

"Ian. Ian. Wake up dude." I heard Kyle's gruff voice and felt a large hand shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was sitting in the back of the van, leaning against the wall. I guess I had just fallen asleep for a minute.

Kyle was sitting beside me in the back of the bouncing van. He was staring at me with irritated eyes, but then again, he always looked irritated. Jared was in the front seat, trying to drive smoothly on the bumpy desert road. I heard him humming a slow tune, trying to keep himself awake. I looked out the window. The moon was shining bright, casting light on the desert road. It had to be about midnight at this point.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty." I rolled my eyes at this comment. Typical Kyle. "We're almost there."

I sat up straight against the van's wall. "So, Jared. What's the game plan?" I asked, yawning loudly, stretching my arms out in front of me. I heard all of my joints pop loudly.

"It'll be simple." Jared said in a low, hollow voice. "They get new deliveries of meds every morning at five o'clock A.M. sharp. You and I will go out and get as much as we can carry. Kyle will wait in the car in the far corner of the lot. In and out." He finished, eyes still locked forward.

"Quick and dirty." I said softly.

"Yeah. You and Ian get all the fun. All I get to do is sit in the stupid fuc….."

"Woah, woah, woah. Language Kyle." I said jokingly.

"I'll say whatever the hell I want to say!" Kyle lashed back, not quite as jokingly as I was speaking. He always took things way too damn seriously.

 _"I don't want to go!" My sister cried as we locked the door behind us. I was holding her hand . She was extremely small for a seven year old, she had always been small. All of the boys in our family were 6'0 feet or taller and weighed a good solid 150 pounds of sheer muscle. Even our mom was 5'11. But not her. My sister weighed about 40 pounds, the size of a normal five year old._

 _"It'll be okay Cha-Cha. We will all be okay." Cha-Cha was what my family called her, a cute little nickname. She called me Bro, just me. She called my other brothers by their full names. I don't know why, but I think she liked me more than the other boys. I was gentler and friendlier towards her than my bothers. I liked her more than I liked my brothers too._

 _I wiped a shiny tear from her rosy cheeks. She looked at me and gave a small smile. Her eyes were the same as mine, an icy blue. They were terrified. Full of fear. Sad._

 _No one so sweet and innocent deserved this much hardship. Nobody so young needed this much change._

"Now we just have to wait." Jared said with a huff. "It will be about half an hour at this point." He pulled the van into the dark corner of the small hospital parking lot. I couldn't believe we were there already. We had only just left. It was at least a 3 hour drive to Tucson.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked, extremely confused at this point.

"About 3 hours bro." Kyle punched my shoulder. "You must not be getting a lot of sleep then." He said the latter with a raised eyebrow and a suggestive smirk.

"Ew dude. Ew. Some thoughts just don't need to be said aloud. No." Jared said with a fake gag. My face turned a bright shade of maroon. Kyle had absolutely no filter, of any kind.

"Yeah dude. Ew. Stop talking about my girlfriend like that." I said with a disgusted look on my face. That was an inappropriate thing to say, but, not entirely untrue.

Kyle was right. I wasn't sleeping. I stayed up all night worrying. I was worrying about Wanda. Worrying about Wanda, because bleeding wasn't the only reason she collapsed yesterday. That's why I had been so reluctant to leave her there alone.

Wanda was pregnant, with my child.

2 and ½ months pregnant.

Doc was the only other one who knew about the baby, Me, Wanda, and Doc. She had been terrified these past few weeks. I felt awful about it. I knew she had lied about her age. Pet's body could not have been any more than 18. I felt like I was doing something wrong. I felt like I was breaking the rules or something.

But, then again, I didn't.

I was and adult. And I was having a baby with the love of my life, and I was going to love that child and protect that child no matter what.

I was just nervous for Wanda. She was so young. She was so scared. She was only a baby herself. How could she raise a kid? Or worse, what if something happened to me? What if, God forbid, I couldn't be there for her?

No. I thought. I had to snap out of it. I could not afford to think like that. I had to be confident that everything would be okay, even though everything in this god forsaken world was already so damn screwed up.

After that we all just sat there in silence, waiting for five a.m. The lights in the parking,lot were perfectly placed so that our van was completely invisible to the souls that were delivering the meds.

I was about to nod off again when a loud noise woke me with a start. I saw a pair of headlights flash across the parking lot. It was delivery time.

"The truck's here. Let's move." Jared said hastily. He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door. I crawled out of the back of the van and opened the door slowly and silently. I jumped quietly onto the hard cement, silently shutting the door behind me. I turned back in enough time just to see Kyle crawling into the driver's seat, ready to help us get away.

The souls driving the truck got out and opened up the back of the semi. We knew we only had a small window of time when the souls would go inside to make sure the other souls at the hospital knew about the delivery. It normally took two minutes. They were kind of weird that way. They always followed the same exact pattern.

The two souls went into the back door of the hospital. Jared looked at me and gave me a knowing nod. We started to run.

Both of us had canvas bags, which we began to fill with all the bottle we could carry, Heal, Seal, Awake, No Pain, even a new one called Hydrate. My bag began to bulge with the amount of tubes in it. So did Jared's.

We heard noises behind us. The souls. They were coming back. It had only been about 30 seconds. Why the hell were they back so quickly. We both stiffened in surprise and turned to run back to our van. Away from the truck.

I only got a few feet before I stopped in my tracks.

We turned right into a group of Seekers.

"Shit." I said under my breath. I heard Jared grumble the F word a couple of times.

I took a moment to analyze the group of souls standing before us. There had to be at least 10 of them. The one in front was a large black male. He wore a cold face, like a mask. In his hand was a Glock, the gun that I envied most. The man on his right was built like a linebacker. In fact, his host was probably a linebacker in his former life. He wore a an evil looking sneer. The woman on the other side of the man in front was very tall, and solidly built. Her brown hair was cut in a bob style. She was eyeing me with hatred and anger.

And all of them were pointing guns at us. All of them.

"They said there were humans spotted around these parts." The one in front said in a booming voice. He spat at the word humans. Each of them was dressed from head to toe in black.

"I thought you souls were supposed to be nice. No killing." Jared spat back. We had already been made, so we didn't have to pretend. They had caught us red handed, and we had no way to get out.

"Our job is to protect our souls." He grumbled at us both. "We will, do whatever is necessary to fulfill our calling. Luckily, your human technology makes it…..well, easy."

And then it hit me: I was going to die. My body was going to stay, but I, myself was going to die. I absentmindedly grabbed at the pill in my pocket. Today was the day that I was going to swallow this pill. To die.

I knew Jared was thinking the same thing, as I saw his hand move to his pocket.

"We've grown more...accustomed to you human ways." The linebacker sneered back.

"So, you're embracing your human side?" I told the stiffly, knowing it would push their buttons.

"You could say that." The woman growled. "You humans are so violent and angry, unlike any other species we've seen before. We Seekers have embraced it, especially since you humans just won't die out!"

"Now Sunshine on the Fields, calm down." The leader put a hand in front of her, pushing her back. I chuckled. Sunshine on the Fields. Talk about an ironic name. Someone so cold with a name so warm. Typical of the souls.

"What are you laughing at human?" He eyed me threateningly.

"Nothing." I said casually.

It was in that moment that the man in front snapped. His gun went off with a loud pop.

I felt the bullet hit my stomach as if in slow motion. It tugged at my insides, ripping a hole all the way through my stomach and out my back. I felt like I was on fire. I doubled over in pain and made a strange, gagging sound.

A second shot rang out, but this time, I didn't feel any pain. I looked over and saw Jared clutching his stomach, his shirt turning scarlet with blood. No. No. I thought.

We didn't even have time to kill ourselves. They were going to do it for us.

I felt another shot hit my shoulder. I screamed with ear-splitting volume. Another shot rang and Jared collapsed, his leg bleeding profusely. The pain was to much to bare. I felt like my whole body was on fire, and I was sure Jared felt the same. I collapsed next to him.

My hands began desperately grabbing for the pill in my pocket. My hands were shaking violently, and soaked with blood. I tried to grab it, but my arms became numb. I was blacking out. I could see Jared slowly starting to pass out as well.

The lead Seeker looked down on me with a small, evil chuckle. "Pathetic." He whispered.

The woman leaned down beside my head and sprayed something in front of my nose. I held my breath. I knew what they were doing. I wouldn't give in

But then, I felt my body give out. I was slipping out of consciousness. I was about to lose control. I turned my head slowly and saw that Jared was already out. At that point, I realized that there was no point in delaying the inevitable, and I took in a deep breath.

One thing went through my mind: Grapefruit. Chloroform.

Then I went under, forever.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's a new chapter to my story. Thank you to all who read the previous chapters. I sincerely hope you enjoy this new installment!**

Jared's POV

I always thought that when you inhaled chloroform, you would just be in the dark. Not seeing, not hearing, not feeling, not being. Only your body was truly there.

I was wrong.

Now, I couldn't see, or hear, or feel anyone on the outside of my body, out in the world. But in my mind, memories and thoughts and feelings were playing like a high def television. Each one more and more vivid than the rest.

They came back in spurts. Happy memories, sad ones, people's faces,

I attempted to soak in every single one, memorizing every detail of my life.

Then a strong memory hit me.

 _Her hands moved to the back of my neck slowly. And then they reached the thin scar on my neck. She screamed._

 _"Shhhhh, shhhh. Calm down" I said to her, attempting to calm her down. I grabbed her hands, which were still trembling against my neck. Damn. This girl had some pipes, but if she didn't shut up, we were going to get caught._

 _"Shut up!" I yelled back. She whimpered, but she stopped yelling. "Look at my eyes. Green. All green!" She stared at my eyes in confusion._

 _"But…..bu...bu….but, there's a scar on the back of your neck." Her brown eyes were terrified._

 _"I know. I know. I put it there on purpose." I tried to explain. "It's my camouflage. Nothing more."_

 _She looked away for a second, trying to make sense of the information I had just given her. Her hands were still trembling in mine. "Oh." She sighed. "I think I just died a little bit there." She said, laughing slowly. She seemed to be uncomfortable. I understood why. I almost gave the first person I have seen in a few years a heart attack._

 _I took a moment to memorize her face. Long, dusky brown hair. She had a small nose and big brown eyes. She had a small scar above her lip, right below her nose. There was a scratch along her chin. Her cheeks were round and freckled. She had a little dimple on her left cheek. She had light tan skin. She was gorgeous._

 _Even if they hadn't been two of the last humans on earth, he still probably would have kissed her._

 _"Come with me. I have a jeep. It is faster than running." He told her. "Even if you are really fast."_

 _"I would like to go with you but….." She trailed off, looking into the distance._

 _"But what?" Jared said, looking at her quizzically. "What Melanie?"_

 _"I have to get back to someone." Her voice was distant, her eyes unclear. She seemed to be remembering someone, someone she was very fond of. My heart sank._

 _"Your boyfriend? You're not alone." I said sadly. I finally found another human, a girl. And she was already taken. Just my luck._

 _"Oh. Oh. No." She looked at me alarmed. "No nothing like that. I don't have a boyfriend." I looked at her with a look of alarm. "It's my little brother. His name is Jamie." She told me, trying to set my mind straight. "He's only 10. He's hiding in the woods."_

 _"Ohhh." I thought about it for a second. I Couldn't help but let a smile creep across my face. So she was single. Yes!._

 _"So, I can't go with you. I have to go find my brother." She sighed sadly. "Goodbye." She turned and ran in the opposite direction from where my Jeep was._

 _"Hey Wait! Melanie! Wait!" she turned wildly. I gave her a crooked smile.. "Lead me to him. We can pick him up, and all go together."_

 _She looked at me with a sly smile. "Sounds like a plan."_

Oh God. Melanie. I was leaving her all alone. We had finally found our ways back to each other. After so much struggle, and pain, and confusion, we were finally happy. And now it was going to be ripped apart. The rug pulled out from under our feet.

But, I wasn't going down without a fight. I was going to take a page from Mel's book. I was going to stay. I was going to stay in the back of the mind of the soul that took my body from me. I was not giving in and leading the parasites to my family. I will do whatever it takes to protect them all. And even though we couldn't speak, I knew Ian felt the same way.

He loved Wanda as much as I loved Melanie. He was going to fight just as hard.

 _"I can't believe Mel is gone." Jamie said quietly, tears rolling down his tired face. It had been a few months since that horrid night in Chicago. I couldn't believe it either. She couldn't be gone._

 _She just, couldn't._

 _We were riding in my Jeep, towards the hideout Melanie's Uncle Jeb had created. Maggie and Sharon had helped us figure out the map he had made. We were about a mile away at this point._

 _"Me too kid." I said back. "Me too."_

 _I had only known Melanie and Jamie about 2 years now, but they were my family. In this world, just being human was enough to be considered family._

 _Cool desert night air blew Sharon's flaming pink hair around, making it look crazy. Maggie was driving. She knew where she was going. I was in the back with Jamie. I had my arm wrapped around his shoulder. He was my only family now, and I would protect him with my life._

 _We pulled up to the edge of a cluster of crumbling mountains. There were cliffs np that stood at least 75 feet off the ground. Usually mountains had snow on top, but not out here in the desert. Out here, they were dry as bones._

 _Suddenly, the car stopped abruptly under a small overhang on the edge of the mountain. "We're here." Maggie said hastily. She wasn't the nicest or the most gentle or understanding person in the world._

 _"Already?" I asked, confused. I thought we were at least a mile away. "Huh." Jamie and I followed Sharon and Maggie out of the Jeep, to a cluster of bushes only 20 feet away. "Where's the entrance?" I asked, confused, seeing no openings to the caves around me._

 _"It's right here." Maggie said, with an annoyed edge to her voice. She pulled aside the tall bush to reveal a tall cave entrance._

 _"Wow." I said quietly. The opening led into a tunnel that was pitch black. I had no idea where it went. Only someone crazy would think to do this. Only someone crazy would build a resistance in a place like this. But, then again, with the things Mel had told me about her Uncle Jeb, I think that he might actually be just a little bit crazy. But not bad crazy. Good crazy._

 _Jamie smiled, a sight that I hadn't seen in months. "Crazy Uncle Jeb." He whispered. That tiny comment and smile made me a little bit happier. And a little bit happy was all I could ask for now._

I remembered the wonderful times I had spent with the resistance. My very first raid, where Kyle nearly gave us up by complaining too loudly. Our first soccer match when everyone realized that I was amazing. Nobody could hear my thoughts, so I wasn't being modest. Our first full day of plowing the earth. The blood, sweat, and tears we put into everything we grew. Finding out that Melanie truly was there, stuck in there with Wanda. Wanda giving Mel back to me, without a second thought. My first night alone with Melanie.

I scrutinized over the details of every face and every body and every person that had become my family Jeb's crazy eyes and ever growing smirk. Maggie's constant scowl and unprecedented anger. Sharon's flaming red hair and same flaming 's wise words of encouragement and truth. Trudy's smile lines that surrounded her mouth. Lucina's caramel-tanned skin. Isaiah's awe-struck gaze. Freedom's tiny hands. Geoffrey's slowly graying hair. Paige's infectious laugh. Lily's beautiful green eyes. Brandt's brooding figure. Andy's curly mane. Aaron's Texas-shaped mole on his right ankle. Jamie's stocky build and wonderful cheerfulness. Wanda's innocence and companionship and her trustworthy face. Ian's ever flaming blue eyes. Even Kyle's ever present glare. I couldn't believe I was going to miss Kyle. I was going to miss all of them.

And Melanie.

Melanie Stryder.

I attempted to remember every inch of her perfect person. She was the brightest light I had in a world of darkness and fear. She gave me hope. She brought me joy.

She had told me once before that I was the light in her life too.

Now that light was being put out.

At least she had Jamie. And Wanda. Together, they would get through all of this. I knew that they would.

Another flashback hit me. This one older than all the rest. A memory I knew all too well.

" _Daddy! Daddy!" I giggled in my little five year old voice. "I scored my first goal! I did it." My dad looked over and smiled from his place at the grill. His brown eyes were full of pride._

 _"Nice job little Man!" He hollered across the yard. My oldest brother Daniel came up to me and clapped me on the back. He was 9 years older than me and much, much bigger, the sheer force knocked me on to the ground._

 _"Oh. Sorry little bro!" He smiled, grabbing my arm and pulling me back up. "Nice shot!"_

 _"Thanks bubby!" I laughed again._

 _My family had two soccer nets in the back yard. I had four older brothers, and they absolutely loved soccer. They played games there every day. Today I joined them, and I managed to score the first goal. I was pretty sure my brother Josh had let me score purpose, but I didn't care. I was elated. My mother was sitting on the deck, rocking in her favorite wicker rocking chair. She was laughing loudly at my happy face. My dad was grilling burgers next to her, watching us play, grinning from ear to ear._

 _"I think we have a future star on her hands." My brother Stephen laughed, high fiving me. I had never felt better or more grown up._

That was my first happy moment that I could remember.

And at this moment, I finally got it. I finally got what all those people who've had near death experiences told me. Your whole life flashes before your eyes. The good and the bad. The happy and the sad. The nice and the angry. Every moment seemed to fleet by.

I wondered how much longer this was going to go on. Me sitting here, motionless, useless. How long until they occupied me with a Soul. How much time had I been ou? Had it been hours? Days? Minutes? I had no way of knowing.

Suddenly, I felt someone pulling on my shoulder. Here we go. I thought. It was happening.

They kept tugging on my shoulder. I wondered what they were doing,

Did they normally do this before insertion? Shake you all around? I wondered if they were doing the same thing to Ian.

Suddenly the shaking got wilder. They were shaking my whole body. I could faintly hear a voice outside of my head. They were waking me up.

Why?

Were they going to ask me questions about the other humans? Were they going to torture me, force me to tell them things? Were they capable of that much cruelty?

They shot us point blank. They were capable of cruelty.

I had the urge to wake up, but I couldn't. The chloroform had to strong of a hold on me. The person shaking me seemed to realize this. They let me go, my body stilling. I began to sink back into the lull of the chloroform when…

They slapped me across the face. They slapped me hard.

My eyes flew open, ready to face whatever was coming. I looked up and saw a pair of eyes staring down on me.

Bright blue eyes.

Only blue.

No iridescent ring. Just blue.

Human eyes.

"What? What?" I stammered.

"Come with me if you want to live."


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you to all who read my previous chapters and thank you for the great advice you gave me! I am open to all forms of feedback, criticism, reviews, comments, and ideas. Feedback literally makes my day. Enjoy!**

Melanie's POV

I brushed stray strands of blonde hair out of Wanda's peaceful face. Her eyes were closed and her face was pale. All the color had been drained from her body.

"Didje wake uugh?" Jamie said sleepily next to me. Doc had pulled a cot over so I was stretched out above her head. Jamie was lying down on the cot next to me. Doc was snoring like a truck driver, his head on his desk.

"No Jamie." I said back to him. "She never even groaned, or shuddered, or even moved. She's just still."

Jamie sighed slightly next to me, shifting tothe other side of his cot. His legs were too long and they hung off the end. We both laid there for minutes in silence after this. I didn't know what to say.

I couldn't stand it.

"Where the hell are they?" I said loudly, not talking to anyone in particular.

"They'll be back soon Mel. Just calm down." He said in a soothing voice. He was getting to be so mature.

"Well, they should be back by now. Tucson is only 3 hours from here. And, it only takes a few minutes to get the meds. It's been 10 hours now." I babbled impatiently. "They should have been back two hours ago!"

Jamie sat up next to me. He gave me a stern look. "Maybe the medicine truck is late today. Maybe they decided to get a few more items while they're out. There are so many reasons as to why they aren't back yet. Everything will be okay."

"Maybe not!" I snapped loudly. "You don't know everything!"

The room went silent. Doc's snores had stopped. Crap. I thought. I absolutely hated it when anyone else yelled at Jamie, so when I yelled at him, I felt terrible. A lump formed in my throat as I saw his face.

Jamie stared at me with wide eyes. His face wasn't angry, or hurt. No. His face was full of one look at this face, I instantly regretted snapping at him. "Oh, Jamie. I'm sorry. I didn't me to snap at you." I said with pleading eyes.

"It's okay." His dark eyes softened. "You didn't mean it. I know you didn't."

"Thanks Jamie." I gave him a weak smile. "I honestly have no idea what came over me."

Jamie chuckled quietly. "It's because you're tired Mel. Any time you nod off even a little, you sit bolt upright again, as if Wanda had done anything in the three minutes you slept. You're just tired. That's why."

"Oh." I pondered this quietly. Jamie grabbed my hand. His were now almost twice the size of mine, and about three times the size of Wanda's. He was getting too big for my liking.

"Nuuuugh." Doc groaned sleepily, interrupting our nice family moment. Then his snores started up again.

It was almost 10 o'clock in the morning. Everyone else was working, and doing their chores, and contributing to the rest of our little society. Except for me, and Jamie. We were just lying here.

Jeb had come in early this morning to check on Wanda. As soon as he saw us, and how exhausted we were, he instantly decided that there was no way we would be able to do anything of any use today. We were too tired, and too worried.

I just laid there, staring at the stone ceiling above me. I couldn't sleep, couldn't work, and there was absolutely no way I would be able to eat right now. I could do nothing else but just wait. Wait for Jared, Ian, and Kyle to come back with the medicine. Wait. Wait. Wait.

Just then, I heard someone yell something down the hallway. "Their in the hospital. Probably not asleep." It was Brandt.

I heard footsteps echo as they came closer to the Hospital. The person was walking to us, no running to us. I sat bolt upright. The boys! They're back! I thought to myself. Thank God!

The footsteps got louder and closer until Kyle ran into the bright room. His face was blank. I looked up at him, and he turned his face away, refusing to make eye contact.

Why? I thought. Never mind. I'll ask him later. Right now we have to save Wanda.

"Kyle. Thank God!" Jamie said next to me, sitting up slowly. "Did you get it?" He asked nervously.

Kyle held up a large canvas bag that was bulging at the sides. "Sure did kid." His voice was sad, and was laced with anger. But, I could tell the anger wasn't directed at Jamie. It was directed at something else entirely.

"Then let's stop wasting time then." Doc spoke up softly. I turned and saw that he had stood up from his desk and was now standing beside Wanda. "Give me a bottle of Heal."

Kyle stepped close to Wanda and dug a bottle of Heal our of his bag. He was now in the light, and saw something that I hadn't seen before.

His face was tear stained. His eyes were red. Kyle had been crying. Kyle, mightier than thou, biggest meat head ever, emotionless robot Kyle had been crying. Something bad happened.

Before I could ask what, Doc interrupted me.

"With internal injuries, there isn't a specific wound to spray the heal on." He explained to is, though I could tell that none of us really cared. "So I will just have to spray it all over her stomach, and let it soak in. Then she should be just fine."

He took the top off the bottle and gently pulled up her dusty, green t-shirt. He began to spray her whole stomach, making sure it was a lol covered in Heal. He obviously didn't want to take any chances. He was being extremely gentle with her, being careful not to touch her stomach.

After he used at least half the bottle of heal, he placed the cap on it and pulled Wanda's shirt back over her exposed abdomen. "She should wake up any moment now."

Jamie let out a loud sigh next to me. He didn't seem to notice Kyle's face. Either that, or he didn't seem to care at the moment, but I did.

"Kyle." I said quietly, turning to look at him. He once again turned mp from my gaze. "Kyle. Tell me what's wrong."

"W…...w…." Kyle tried to say something, but he looked lost. Then a thought hit me. Why had Kyle come to give Wanda the meds, and not Ian? If I could have, I would have bet money on Ian be king the first one in here when they got back. He barely let himself go away from Wanda to get her medicine. Where was he?

"Kyle. Where's Ian?" I asked flatly, not really wanting to know the answer. "He should be here with Wanda now, Where is he?"

Jamie looked at me quizzically, not quite sure where I was going with this. He was to preoccupied with Wanda to care.

"We went to go get the medicine. They were unloading it." Kyle said quietly, now staring at Wanda's still unconscious form. "It was going so well."

"What happened Kyle?" Doc asked, now intrigued in our conversation.

"There were Seekers. Lots of Seekers. They snuck up on us." Kyle swallowed hard, as if the words were forming a lump in his throat. His eyes began to water again. "There was nothing that they could have done."

Then it hit me. He said they. THEY. As in Ian and Jared. My Jared.

"What happened Kyle?" Doc asked again, this time an edge to his usually calm voice. His hand were shaking violently. He seemed to be thinking what I was thinking.

"Th….th…" Kyle trailed off once again. He was dragging this out. Without trying, he was making it even worse.

I knew what that meant.

I was mad now.

"Kyle O'Shea, you bastard, you tell me what the hell happened right now or so help me." I said, my eyes flaming. I stood up off the cot.

This seemed to get Jamie's attention. I tried to never speak to anyone that looked up at me in alarm. He had tuned out our whole conversation until this point.

"They outnumbered them 10 to 2. I….I….I was in the van. I couldn't do anything." Kyle said, he turned and made eye contact with me for the first time. His deep blue eyes were full of pain. His face said it all.

"No." I breathed quietly, feeling tears welling in my eyes. "No."

"Melanie. I am so sorry." He whispered, grabbing my shoulder. I shook him off violently. I didn't want his comfort. I didn't need it. This wasn't true.

"No." I said again, this time louder. "No. Kyle, no! That's not….it can't…..Jared's not….." I was hyperventilating now. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be true.

Kyle was now crying next to me, not saying anything. His face was stained with tears

"What does he mean?" Jamie said next to me, completely bewildered. He looked at Doc for an answer, knowing he wouldn't get anything out of Kyle and I. "Doc?"

Doc's face dropped down, avoiding Jamie's big brown eyes. He understood what we meant now. He shook his head slowly. "No. No. No, no, no." He moaned. "Not again. Not again"

"What is it Doc?" Jamie asked again. "Mel? Kyle? What's going on?"

I looked away from him, my hands trembling. I could not tell him this. I couldn't.

But apparently, Kyle could. He stood up straight next to me, and looked my little brother directly in the eye. Apparently, he could tell him this news, but not me.

"Jamie." He told him, his voice shakily, still crying. "Ian and Jared were…..they were…" He struggled to find words.

"They've been taken, Jamie. They're gone." Doc finished the sentence for Kyle. He was the only one of us who could speak now. His voice was full of disbelief.

This broke me.

"Jared. Jared." I began to sob, and not at all quietly. It was the loudest noise I think I've ever made in my life. "No. Jared. No. No. No. No." My face was soaking wet and my tears were dripping onto the ground below me.

"I'm so sorry." Kyle said quietly. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." He mumbled repeatedly.

"No. No." I kept yelling. I was sure that everyone in the caves could hear me now.

"Melanie? What's wrong?" A tiny voice said behind me. I turned and saw Wanda's bright eyes staring at me. Apparently my screaming was heard by literally everyone in the caves. Everyone. It woke her up.

Her porcelain face was etched with worry. Her brow was furrowed. Her eyes widened as they wandered over to Kyle's face and saw that he was crying almost as hard as I was. And she had absolutely no idea why.

And I wasn't about to tell her.

"No. No. No." I turned and stared at the tunnel. I couldn't be here when Kyle told her. I just, couldn't.

And then I sprinted. I sprinted as fast as I could. I wasn't yelling anymore. I was just running and crying. My eyes were blurred with tears, but it didn't matter at this point. I knew where I was going. I was going to where I found Wanda a year ago. Where she sat for three days.

I ran through the south tunnel. It was completely empty, but I heard voices in the main plaza. Oh no. I thought. They were all going to want to talk to me, but I didn't want to talk to any of them. Behind me I heard a scream, and I knew that Kyle had just told Wanda. That was a scream of sheer pain.

I ran out of the dark tunnel, right out into the light of the main plaza, right into a pack of people. All of them turned and looked at me, their eyes wide and faces tear stained. After about a second of awkward silence, I pushed through the crowd, towards the north tunnel, where my destination was. I felt hands try to grab my arms, hands, and shoulders, but I shook each one off, each more forcefully than the last. I was not in the mood to be comforted.

"Melanie….." Someone said behind me. I thought it was Lily, but I didn't turn around to check. I just kept running until I reached the mouth of the North tunnel. I heard footsteps behind me. They were going to follow me.

Then, someone came to my rescue.

"Let her go Lily. Just let her go." Jeb's sad voice hollered through the crowd. The footsteps stopped.

I said a silent thank you to Jeb, and kept running. I ran and ran down the dark tunnel for what seemed like hours. I desperately hoped that I would not run into anyone.

I ran until I reached my destination. The bathing room.

I came to a screeching halt bye e water's edge, not wanting to fall in, and I made my way around the water, into the far corner of the room. Into the corner that was in total darkness.

There I sat down and pulled my knees close to my chest. The tears began to flow down my face and onto my legs. I sobbed and rocked back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.


	6. Chapter 6

**A huge thank you to all who read and reviewed my story, and those who PM(ed) me as well. Your feedback and support is what fuels my writing. Please review! I love all feedback, good, bad, criticism. If it helps make the story better, I will take it. Happy Fourth of July to all of you out there, even if you don't celebrate it!**

Jared's POV

"Come with me if you want to live."

I just lied there, staring at the bright blue eyes peering down at me. The blue HUMAN eyes. They looked full of worry. There was a hand on the top of my head, gently to placed in my hair.

What the hell is going on? I thought to myself.

"Can you hear me?" They asked me. The voice was female and extremely nervous. It was a pair of woman's eyes staring down at me. She took her hand out of my hair, grabbed my shoulders and shook me lightly again. "Can you hear me?"

"Y...y...yes." I stammered hoarsely. My throat was strangely dry, as if I hadn't spoken in a while. "I can h..hear you."

That seemed to relax her a little. Her eyes softened slightly and she let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Good." She cooed softly.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" I asked wildly, still extremely confused and shocked. It was in that moment that I realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was. No idea. I sat up abruptly, suddenly very nervous. The room I was in was very dark, only a single light hung above my head. "Where am I?"

The woman backed away from me, as I almost head-butted her when I sat up. Still, all I could see of her was her electric eyes. "You're in a hospital. Saint Augustine's Hospital in Tucson. Specifically, Insertion Room 7."

Insertion. Insertion. I mulled over the word for a few seconds, trying to remember it's meaning. The chloroform still had a slight hold on me and everything was still a little fuzzy. Then it hit me.

I was in a room, prepared for insertion.

But, then I thought. I thought.

I hadn't thought of it before, but I noticed it now. I was alone in my head. Just me. I was alone. Nobody was in there with me. I shook my arms. They shook with me. I was in control of my body.

They hadn't inserted a Soul in me yet. I was still human.

That cleared my head right away.

"Insertion. I remember everything now. All of it." I breathed heavily, trying to make sense of all the jumbled thoughts in my head, attempting to arrange all the bits and pieces into a timeline that made sense. "We were getting medicine, and, and, a group of Seekers followed us. They were waiting for us. Just waiting for us"

"Yes." The girl told me quietly. "Yes. That's all true."

"Then, then, they shot us." My hand instantly shot up to my stomach, where I had been shot. I felt my skin, and noticed no difference. No scar. They had healed me before the insertion. Nothing less than a perfect host for their souls. "And they drugged us, with chloroform. And now I'm here."

"Yes. I watched you, the whole time." She said. "And that's why I'm here now. I am going to get you out of here. Both of you." She said this in a calm voice, a voice of confidence.

Both? I thought. What does she mean both?

The color drained from my already pale face. "Ian." I said quietly. "He was next to me. Th...they shot him too. He's here too. Where is he? Where is he?" I began to breathe quickly, my heart rate speeding up. Where was Ian?

"Shh. Shh. Calm down." The woman took a step closer to me. "Is I..Ian the friend you were with?" Her voice seemed to break on Ian's name, as if it were hard for her to say.

"Yes. That was Ian." I told her shakily. "Where is he?"

"He's fine. He's right over there." She pointed to my left. I turned my head and squinted. That half of the room was almost invisible to me, it was almost pitch black over there. But, faintly, I could see the outline of a body on a table. "He's just fine, but he's still out. I haven't woken him up yet."

I looked from the woman, to Ian, and back to the woman. "Why are you here?" I asked her.

"I'm here to get you out of here." She said calmly.

"You're going to get us out of here?"

"Yes." She took a step closer to me. "And we need to get going."

"What?"

"I said we need to get going." Her voice was strangely calm for someone who was about to commit a serious crime. "I'm going to wake I..Ian up." Her voice broke on his name, for some unknown reason. But, I didn't have time to ponder over that.

"O..okay." I muttered confused. I slowly slid off the end of the table, tentatively setting my feet on the tile floor. My legs ached as I pushed of the cool steel table and stood up. My knees buckled under my weight. The woman rushed forward and caught my torso.

"Steady there. Steady." She giggled slightly. "You haven't walked in a while. Your legs will be sore." That made me think. How long have I been under? Days? Weeks? More? She was right my legs hurt, especially my knees. My back was also stiff as hell. Evidently they didn't give me any No Pain.

"Thanks." I said, looking up. For a second, we made eye contact. My green eyes met her piercing blue gaze. At this close, I could vaguely make out the details of her face. She looked young, like fifteen or sixteen. Much younger than I was expecting, considering the air of confidence and composure she held around her. And, she was quite had a heart shaped face and very structured cheek bones. She had a small nose and light blonde eyebrows, which made me assume that her hair was also the same shade of blonde. I didn't know. She was wearing a hood that covered the rest of her head. Her expression was one of stone. Her eyes were focused on me and her lips were drawn in a tight line as she gently helped to pull me up.

"You're welcome." She responded kindly. Our gaze remained locked for several more seconds after this. Then she shook her head and let me go. "Stay right here. I'm going to wake him up." She pointed her head towards Ian.

At a brisk pace, she walked across the dark room. As she approached Ian, she got harder and harder to see, until all I could make out was a black shape. She stopped and bent over Ian's body, just as I assume she had done to me. Firmly, she grasped his shoulders and shook him violently, the same way she had shaken me moments before. I knew what would happen to him if this didn't wake him up. He was going to get slapped.

Luckily for Ian, the chloroform was lighter on him.

"Wha...wh..what?" He stammered sleepily. The girl let go of him and I saw his body shift positions as Ian stretched his legs, arms, and back. He gasped slightly from the pain of his stiff muscles. "Why did you wake me up?"

"To save your life." She grunted. I laughed lightly. Whoever this girl was, she was not a well, gentle person.

"What...what do you mean?" Ian asked, still waking from the chloroform and slurring his words slightly.

"I mean, I'm going to save your life." She told him coolly. "Now get up."

Ian just laid there, not moving, obviously unsure of what was happening.

"It's alright man. She's here to help." I told him gruffly,

"Jared?" Ian yelled. "Jared? Where are you?"

"I'm over here, o..on your right." I saw the outline of his head turn to face me. That seemed to relax his body a little.

"What's going on? Who is she?"

"She's here to help us. She's going to get us out of here. Listen to her."

"Yeah. Listen to me." The girl said forcefully. This girl was not messing around. "Get up."

Ian slowly sat up on his table, his body was tense and he moved in strange jerky way. He looked around wildly for a few moments. "We were cornered. They trapped us. They shot at us." I saw the outline of his hand move up to his gut, just as mine had done. He felt around for a few seconds, trying to find a scar. I knew he wouldn't find one. They healed him, just as they had healed me. "Where am I now?"

"Saint Augustine's Hospital, Tucson, Arizona. Now let's stop lollygagging and get out of here. The longer we wait, the more likely we are to get caught." She babbled anxiously. Obviously, her patience was gone. Something about Ian made her antsy, but once again, I didn't have time worry about the right now. I was getting out of here

I strode over to them, my legs shaking with each step. As I made my way across the room, Ian and the girl came into view. She was standing with her arms folded across her chest, staring Ian down with blazing eyes. Ian was slowly getting up off the table, eyeing the girl warily.

"Alright. I'm going to get you two out of here." She announced as Ian finally got up.

"And how do you expect to do that?" Ian grunted. "There are Souls everywhere! This is a hospital for crying out loud. I can't believe we've made it this long without being caught."

""I have a plan." The girl said directly.

"What is it?" I asked, intrigued.

"It's…..uh….complicated." She answered vaguely.

"You don't have a plan. Do you?" Ian questioned. The girl turned her head, avoiding his eyes.

"Well, I, uh, kind of have a plan, if everything happens like it's supposed to, which is like, you know, a snowball's chance in hell, but maybe if it all goes right we could possibly all make it out human." She rambled nervously.

"What?" I asked.

"I have half of a plan." She finally grumbled. Before either of us could say anything though, she spoke again. "But, at least I got you guys up. Without me you'd be aliens by now."

"I'm not questioning you.'" I said, raising my hands in a mock surrender. "And, I doubt he is. If you even have a chance of saving our lives, we'll follow you."

"Anything to stay human." Ian finished.

The girl smiled softly. "Good. Let's go."

She walked quickly to the other side of the room, where, for the first time, I noticed there was a door. She grabbed the handle, and almost turned when she looked back at us. "When we go out into the hall, there should be a set of double doors by the end, big red exit sign over the top. Go out that door. It will lead us to an alley, behind the hospital. 'lol tell you where to go from there."

I exchanged a look with Ian, a silent one, which seemed to say 'Should we trust this chick?'

Then,. I thought about it for a second. There were two ways this could go: 1, we get out of here, get back to the caves, and live the rest of our lives human. 2, we could get halfway out of here, get caught, and then get made into Hosts for Souls. The latter seemed like the more likely option. But I was willing to take my chances. I gave Ian a small, knowing nod and he shot me a smirk back.

"Let's go." Ian said. We jogged across the room to join her.

"One last thing." She added quickly, the door almost open, but not yet. "Hold your breath."

"What?"

"Hold your breath. Do not breathe until I say so. Do you understand me?" She looked at us expectantly.

"Uh yeah, yes." We spurttered together. "Why?" Ian questioned.

"Tell you later." She quipped. "Go!" She hollered, sucking in a breath. We did the same as she opened the door to the hallway.

We stepped out into the room, and I was surprised by what we saw.

About thirty unconscious bodies were scattered about the floor, doctors, nurses, patients, each of the passed out cold on the floor. Chloroform. I thought. That's why we're holding our breath. Damn. Whoever this girl was, she was clever.

Carefully, our trio ran to the end of the hall, still holding ur breath. We hit the door. I was starting to get a little woozy. I couldn't hold out for much longer. With her full weight, the girl shoved open one of the doors. I was taken aback with the rush of cool night air. I stumbled forward after he, trying not to trip over the bodies.

We ran out of the hospital and into the alley. I could barely hold my breath any longer. My vision was blurring slightly as she ran back and closed the door. She then let out a huge breath. Ian and I followed suit.

I gasped and coughed for a solid thirty seconds. I doubled over, placing my hands on my knees, resting.

"We're…..out." Ian breathed heavily next to me. "I can't believe it. We're actually out." He shook his head in disbelief, as if all of this was a dream that he was about to wake up from.

The girl sounded just as shocked as Ian. "I did it. I did it. Oh my God, I did it."

I stood up straight and looked around. We were not in an alley. We were in the parking lot behind the hospital, but there were absolutely no cars here. This must be the delIvery zone. I had absolutely no idea what time it was, but judging by the moon, and the blackness of the sky, my guess was that it was in the dead middle of the night.

"We can't stay here and rest, unfortunately." The girl announced steadying her voice. "We need to get going."

"Where?" Ian asked.

"I have a place, not far from here." She pointed towards the forest on the edge of the parking lot. "Should be enough for all of us."

Won't they come after us, as soon as they realize we're gone?" I questioned her. "Don't they have like, security cameras?"

"No, no cameras." The girl breathed. "Souls are trusting creatures. They would never see a need for cameras."

"That's true." I told her. " but, won't they notice that we're gone eventually. They'll start looking for us. We aren't safe. You aren't safe. We can't get out of this." I said, accidentally sounding very pessimistic.

"Calm down, ye of little faith." She spat at me. She pulled a little black box, a remote, out of her sweatshirt pocket. Holding it up, she waved the thing around in front of us. "I have a plan. Follow me."

She took off at a sprint towards the woods. Ian and I followed her wildly, still unsure of what the hell was going on. The girl stopped about ten feet into the woods, a point in which we were invisible, but we could still see the hospital.

"Why are we stopping? They'll find us." Ian whispered.

"No they won't." She responded coolly.

"Why not?"

Once again she waved the little remote. "Cover your ears." She commanded. We just stared at her, like two idiots. "Cover your damn ears." She yelled. Ian and I obeyed.

As if in slow motion, I watched her press a large yellow button on the front of the remote. As soon as she hit it, she dropped it on the ground and covered her own ears. For about ten seconds, nothing happened.

"What the hell…." BOOM!

The earth shook and the trees rattled around us. Suddenly, the world was very bright. I looked over. The Hospital was up in flames, the exit we had come out of completely destroyed. It was a bomb. This girl just blew up the hospital.

"Damn. That was bigger than I expected." She chuckled crazily next to me. I stared at her with confused eyes. This girl was nuts!

"You just blew up the hospital!" Ian yelled, slightly angry. "Sorry to tell you, but in this world, things don't generally get bombed a lot. They will know it was us."

"No they won't." She sighed.

"Why the hell not?" Ian demanded.

"Because," she said knowingly "I placed the bomb near the gas main. Gas mains blow up all the time. Three have blown up in Tucson in the past year! They'll just think that the gas main blew, and our bodies were burned in the fire. They shouldn't come looking for us." She explained it all to us. And at that moment, I realized that this girl wasn't crazy. She was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

"That's actually quite impressive." I told her, my voice full of shock.

"Thanks." She nodded curtly. "But we still need to hide. Follow me!" She took off sprinting into the woods once again. This time, without hesitation, we followed her. She knew what she was doing. I trusted her now.

Quickly we ran through the woods, jumping over logs, running around trees, accidentally kicking a squirrel. It seemed like we had been running for hours, but I didn't care. My veins were too full of adrenaline to care.

She came to a screeching halt in the middle of a grassy clearing, about 30 feet wide. She got down on her hands and knees and began to feel around. She moved her hands along the ground slowly. She was trying to find something. Then I heard her fingers hit something metal.

"Found it!" She breathed happily. She turned her head to face us. She had a giant smile on her face. "We"re here. Follow me."

Roughly, she pulled at a little metal latch that was sticking out of the ground. Slowly, the earth began to rise up with her. It was a door. A door to a bunker, I presumed. Wow. This girl kept surprising me. Once the door was fully open, it revealed a large hole in the ground. With crazy eyes, she took one last look at us, a jumped into the dark hole.

I stood there for a few moments, alongside Ian. I just stared at the hole, not sure of what to do. Did I really want to go in there?

"You coming?" Her voice broke me out of my thoughts.

I shook my head. I had no reason not to trust this girl. She had saved my life. Why the hell not? "I'm coming right now!" I yelled, and jumped into the hole.

It was much larger down here than expected. It was much larger that twenty feet, and much deeper. It kind of reminded me of the game room back at the caves. There were two cots set together to make one bed in the far left corner. A large cupboard stood directly in front of me. In the furthest corner of the room, I could make out a screen, behind it, a bucket. A toilet. I thought. And all over the floor, there were papers, pages of books, photographs, and letters. Thais girl liked to read.

And it was extremely dark.

I heard a thunk sound, and saw that Ian had jumped in after me. I watched his face as he took in the room. His eyes were more scared than curious.

"So," the girl said from a little ways in front of me. "I know your first names, but, since I saved your lives, I think I deserve your full names." I heard her hand one wall felling around for something.

"I'm Jared, Jared Howe." I told her.

"Ian. Ian O'Shea." Ian said loudly behind me.

The girl stayed silent for a moment. Then she gasped in delight. Then it got bright in the room. There was a light fixture hanging in the center of the room, and one on each end of the room.

She stayed facing the wall.

"And, uh, how about you?" I asked. "What's your name? I'd like to be able to thank my rescuer."

The girl sucked in a breath and slowly turned. I could now see her face clearly.

"No." Ian gasped.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to everyone who followed and favorited and reviewed on my story! Your feedback and support feeds my creative energy! Here's chapter 7! Please enjoy and review, PM, comment, and give me any feedback you like!**

Wanda's POV

I stared at Kyle, my eyes blurring with hot tears. His lips kept moving, but I heard no sound. All I could hear was my heart pounding, blood roaring in my ears, my heavy, strained breathing. What he was saying didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

My life was just shattered. Shattered with two little words: He's gone.

"No." I breathed, barely a whisper.

"I'm so sorry." Kyle's eyes matched mine, tear for tear. His voice broke with agony as he continued to apologize.

I clutched at my throat. I couldn't breathe. I stood up off the cot, shakily. A strange choking noise was filling the room. What is that? I thought. Then I realized. It was me. I was making the strange noise. There was also a loud crying noise. It took a few moments for me to realize that it was Jamie.

He had lost someone too.

I took a step towards the door, and my legs gave out. I fell to the floor with a thud.

"Wanda!" Kyle yelled. Instantly, he knelt down beside me. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." I said quietly, tears streaming my face, soaking my skin. "I'm, I'm okay." I sat up slowly, resting on my hands. Instead of standing up, I pushed myself against the cave wall, and rested my back on the cool stone. I stared at the wall across the room.

Kyle looked at my face, and at Jamie. The boy was crying, a gut-wrenching, heart-rending, painful sight. Doc went over and placed a hand on my shoulder. I shook him off in one fluid motion. I didn't need his comfort. I didn't need anyone.

Except for Ian.

I needed Ian.

Not only did I need him, our baby needed him too. It was at this moment that it hit me. I was a lone alien in a human civilization. I could barely do anything to help out, with my frail, weak body and all. And now, I was going to be a single mother, raising her child in a cave.

That thought made me cry even harder. I buried my face in my hands, and began to cry. Harder than I have ever cried before. I drowned out every other sound in the room. It was just me and my crying.

Kyle looked up from his spot on his knees. "Doc."

"What?" Doc said absentmindedly, staring at me from above.

"Get Jamie out of here. Take him somewhere, to his room or something. Just, get him out of here." Kyle sputtered through tears.

Doc nodded knowingly and grabbed Jamie's forearm. Shakily, the two walked out of the room, Jamie's eyes still clouded with grief and disbelief.

"Thanks." I mumbled to Kyle through my hands.

"Yeah." He grunted. I raised my head as he stood up. Carefully, he walked over to me. His movements were slow and calculated, as if he were approaching a wild animal that might freak out at any second, just like Mel had done. Timidly, he sat down beside me, leaning against the wall. "Uhhh." He let out a slow sigh. "I'm so sorry Wanda."

"It's not your fault Kyle." I reassured him, half-heartedly. "There's nothing you could have done. Absolutely, nothing."

"I'm still so sorry Wanda." He told me honestly.

I continued to stare at the wall, thinking about what I was just told.

"He's gone. He's actually gone." I said aloud. "They actually shot him. Both of them. Point blank."

"Right in the stomach." Kyle added quietly. With that note, my hand absentmindedly flew up to my stomach, to my barely visible baby bump. I placed my hand there protectively. He looked at me sadly. "Can I be honest with you?"

I looked at him glumly. "Of course you can Kyle."

"I just, I can't believe you're reacting like... this." He blabbed.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, unsure of what he meant.

"I mean, usually, when bad things happen you..well…." He trailed off. His eyes looked away from my tear stained face.

"Freak out?" I finished.

"Yeah." Kyle laughed lightly. "Just because of how you reacted to when we uh, you know, were, uh, still, uh, you know…" He trailed off once again.

"Were trying to take Souls out of bodies, and ended up brutally murdering them and smearing them all over the walls?" I finished his sentence. He looked at me sheepishly, his piercing blue eyes full of shame. He nodded timidly, his face clouded with shame.

"Yeah." I mumbled. "I was was kind of expecting to flip out like that again, but, I just…..can't. "

"Why not?" He looked at me confused.

"It's like, everything is moving in slow motion. Everything is shutting down, and I, well I can just can't seem to turn it back on. I have no control." I told him honestly,

"I know the feeling. I feel the same way now, and, I've felt it many times before this." He sighed.

"Does it ever go away?"

"No. Sadly it doesn't." He looked towards the wall. "It only dulls. It doesn't hurt much after a while, but it's still there. It will always be their. The best you can do is learn to live with it, learn to accept it."

I sighed and leaned my head against the wall. My eyes traced up to the ceiling, where I examined the rays of sunshine that were filtering through the vents into the room. I never liked this room. It was usually dark, and cold, and it smelled weird. This room made the hairs on my arms and on the back of my neck stand up. I never liked to be in here.

But now, I didn't want to leave this room. My spot on the floor was the only place I wanted to be right now.

I knew that as soon as I left this room, people would treat me differently. They would stare at me with giant, pity-filled eyes. Some would offer to do things for me, jobs that I can do just fine, like making soap and cooking. Some would keep their distance, uncomfortable. Others would treat me like they would a wounded animal, afraid to touch me, worried that whatever they did would break me, or send me running for the hills.

I wasn't ready to deal with all of that.

Kyle sat still next to me, not out of fear I think. He wasn't being gentle with me. Please, Kyle was the least gentle person I knew. No. He was sitting here because he felt the same way I did. He wasn't ready to face any of it.

I thought back to something Kyke said a few moments ago. 'I feel the same way now, and, I've felt it many times before this.' This statement confused me.

"Kyle?"

"Yeah?" He responded sadly.

"A little bit ago, you said something." I held my firm gaze on the ceiling. "You said that you've felt it before. The pain of losing someone. You've felt it." I brought my eyes from the ceiling, slowly bringing them back to Kyle's face. He was eyeing me sadly. "When?"

"Did Ian ever tell you about the rest of our family?" He asked. I shook my head. Ian never shared anything about his family with me, probably because it was too hard for him to tell, but it was something I had always wondered about. "Well, it might interest you to know that Ian and I had three other siblings."

"Three?" I looked at him surprised. I figured it had just been the two of them.

"Yeah. Two older brothers and a younger sister." Kyle said.

"Oh God." I said aloud.

Kyle looked at me confused. "What?"

"I'm just imagining…...two brothers. Two more of you and Ian. Yikes!" I giggled slightly. This caused Kyle to laugh. Only now did I realize that my crying had stopped. This talk with Kyle, it was already helping.

"Nah." Kyle sighed. "They were pretty calm actu…...actually, no. They weren't calm at all. You're right Wanda. They were like a crazy mix of Ian and I, but they came before us, so that would mean that Ian and I are just halves of them." He looked confused, like he was doing difficult mental math.

"You've lost me." I chuckled.

"It's okay. I've lost it too." He grinned at me crazily.

"What were their names?" I asked him.

"Dylan and James. They were a year older than me. Twins. They look exactly like Ian and I, and we all look like our dad. We all could have been quintuplets. It was crazy how similar we looked." He said. He took a breath. "And our sister, her name was Charlotte. She was almost fifteen years younger than me. She was, uh, let's just say, unexpected."

My hand crept back up to my stomach, where my own little unexpected baby was waiting. "Did, uh, she look like you guys too?"

"Actually no. She looked like our mom. Now, she did have the same blue eyes like the rest of us, but she didn't have black hair. It was dirty blonde. And she was small, I mean, she was only seven, but she was still itty-bitty, which, the rest of our family is not." He looked at me with a smile. "If I could see her now, my guess is that she would probably be about your size."

I smiled back "Dylan, James, and Charlotte." I felt the names roll off my tongue. "What happened to them?"

Kyle's face darkened instantly. This was apparently a very sore subject. "It was about, eight years ago, I think. Yeah about eight." He rambled. He seemed to be searching for words to tell the story. This was a hard thing for him.

"It's alright Kyle. You don't need to do this now.. I can tell it's hard for….."

"No." He cut me off gently. "No. It's fine you deserve to know. It was eight years ago. My family had been on the run for, oh, about 2 months at that point. We were in the woods, camping whenever and where ever we could. And we had been doing well so far. Sneaking around, stealing food, collecting weapons, the works. But then, they found us."

"We were in the woods just, walking when they appeared out of nowhere. Seekers. They asked us to go with them, to 'aid the peace" as they so cordially put it. Then they got more forceful. They started to threaten us. There were about 6 of them. All about my older brother's size, and he was a big dude. Then they pulled guns on us. My father told us to run, so we ran. Ian and I went one way. Dylan, James, and our dad went another way, and My sister and my mom went the other." Kyle was beginning to cry again.

"Ian and I, we, we just ran. I kept looking back for Seekers, but none of them followed us. Not ask ingle one of the followed us. After a few minutes of running, we stopped to rest. Then we heard it. Gunshots. 5 gunshots. One for each member of my family."

"Oh my God." I sucked in a breath. I knew that Seekers now were aggressive, but eight years ago? I was shocked. They killed five people. Five poor people. "I'm so sorry Kyle."

He shook his head. "And you know what? I was finally okay with it. I had finally accepted that it was just Ian and I. I finally accepted the fact that he was the only family I had left." And now," his voice broke off suddenly, his eyes streaming with tears once again. "Now I have no family. None at all."

He was making me cry. "You have Sunny." I offered, trying to give him some comfort.

He shook his head again. "No, not really. She blacks out for a few hours everyday, and even when she is here, she doesn't really know me. She just thinks she does. Really, I have no one."

I reached out and slowly and grabbed his hand. "You have me."

He looked at me with a look that I have never seen before. He looked like he was about to cry again, but not out of sadness this time. No. This time he was grateful. He was looking at me with a look that said one thing: thank you.

"Wanda." He breathed and gave me a weak smile. "You don't have to do that. I know you don't like me."

"You're wrong Kyle." I said softly. "Now, you're right, I didn't like you, at first. But who can blame me! You did try and kill me."

"Sorry about that." He mumbled. I smiled.

"It"s alright Kyle. That was before you and I truly got to know each other, before we became friends."

"Family." He corrected me softly. "If you could have, you and Ian would be married, right?"

I nodded sadly. I would have loved to have married Ian. But now I can't.

"Well, in our society, whenever a girl marries your brother, she becomes your sister-in-law." I stared at him, confused by all the human jargon. Wow. Jargon. I didn't even know that word was in my vocabulary. "She basically becomes your sister. So, you are essentially my sister, which makes us family."

"Family." I repeated softly. I liked it. Then I thought about one other person that was in Kyle's family. My baby. My innocent baby that would never know it's father. The baby needed someone to look up to, someone to follow. A father figure. I think Kyle would be a good fit. "You have both of us in your family now, so your stuck with us."

"Yea, wait, go back both?" He asked. "Whose the other….." He trailed off when he saw my hand move to my stomach. "Oh God Wanda. Your pregnant."

"Yes. But you can't freak out, or apologize for Ian anymore. My baby needs it's Uncle Kyle. Can my baby have it's Uncle Kyle?" I shot him a little grin.

He smiled back. "Of course."

"Don't tell anyone youth, okay? Just, not yet."

"Alright." He agreed. "Wanda." He sighed loudly.

"Yeah?"

"I am so sorry."

"I told you Kyle. You don't have to apologize." I knew and he knew that it wasn't his fault that this happened. I think he just needed someone to blame.

"No, I'm apologizing for something else." He said. He looked at me with the most simcere expression I have ever seen. "I am apologizing for anything bad I ever said about you, I front of your face or behind your back. I am sorry for ever hurting. I am so sorry for my misguidance and judgement, and for trying to kill you in the bathing room. You personally never did anything to hurt me. I tried to take out all the anger I have against your kind out on you, all the anger from them taking Jodi and taking Dylan and James and Charlotte. You didn't deserve any of that."

"I completely misjudged your kind. I mean, even when I tried to kill you, you saved my life. You saved me. At the tribunal, you told them to let me off the hook. You were kind, to a point where it put you in danger. I am so sorry for anything bad I have ever done to you. You are the kindest creature I have ever met, and I'm so sorry." He squeezed my tiny hand. His practically swallowed mine.

"It's alright now Kyle. I forgive you for everything." I smiled softly.

"Iif someone had told me a year ago that we would be family, I never would have believed them. If I had known that you would end up being my only family, I would have done things a hell of a lot differently."

"The world is just mixed up that way."

"Damn right it is."


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the short chapter, but I hope ya'll like it. I've only been home for about 4 days since I last updated, and I have to sing a wedding in an hour, so yeah. I've been a little busy. Please, review, comment, criticize. I love all feedback. Anything that you think will make the writing or the story better, please let me know! I am open to all ideas.**

Ian's POV

"No." I gasped loudly. In the light of the room, I could finally see her face clearly. All of it.

Her face was one that had been burned into my memories year and years ago. Her face forever rested in the back of my always cluttered mind. It was a face that I held locked away in my heart careful to always keep it there. It was a face that I haven't seen for 8 years, and it was a very different face now. Yet, it was still the same person it belonged to. And it was a face that I thought was gone forever.

"Charlotte?" I asked breathlessly.

She looked up at me with big blue eyes that, at this moment, were full of tears. She gave me a weak smile and nodded slowly. "Hi Ian."

"Charlotte?" I asked again, still extremely confused.

This time she just stayed silent and stared at me. She stared at me with eyes that matched mine, each blue fleck for blue fleck. Her eyes were saying something. This is her that I am looking at. This is her. But how?

It couldn't be Charlotte.

She died 8 years ago.

" _Hurry up boys!" My father hollered as we ran through the forest, not quite sure which direction we were heading in. He lead the charge, my mother and sister close behind. Kyle followed them, and I followed Kyle. Dylan and James brought up the rear._

 _I was absolutely exhausted. We had been on the run for three months now, and it was awful. All day we ran and ran, trying to find a good spot to settle down for the night. We generally slept in odd spots, random caves in the mountains, small valleys, sandy river banks, the very back of abandoned alleys in some of the smaller towns. But we could never stay anywhere long. They were always right behind us. Always hot on our trail._

 _"We've been running for 5 hours straight." James groaned, still trudging along behind me. "Can't we take a break?"_

 _"Well sure!" My dad said sarcastically. "If you want to be a parasite. But, I, on the other hand, don't want to, so I'm gonna keep on running."_

 _James grumbled a few choice words and began to pick up his pace. As much as I hated it, my Dad was right. If they got us' we were done for. It was the truth of our predicament._

 _We ran until the sun began to set behind the ever growing tree line. I assumed it was about 6 p.m., but you could never be certain. It was now that my dad finally stopped moving. We came to a complete halt in the middle of a grassy clearing. It was a giant circle of tall green grass, surrounded by trees on every side. It made me uneasy, giving me the feeling that we're were trapped in an invisible bubble._

 _My dad seemed to be feeling the same way because he was looking around wildly, as if there were people watching us. After a few moments of utter silence, my father let out a long breath. His shoulders relaxed and his hand left his handgun, which, like Kyle, the only other member of our family with a gun, was holstered on his belt._

 _"Well guys I think we…" He started, but was cut off by a loud cracking noise. Suddenly, a group of about 6 Seekers, each one the size of a football player, ran out into the clearing, guns out._

 _You'd think that at this moment my first thought would have been: Run! But my mind wandered to this thought instead: Since when did the carry Glocks?_

 _In that short time it took me to ponder that, they had started advancing on us, running at full speed. They shouted things like "Come peacefully!" Or "violence is not the answer! Let us help you!"_

 _Bullshit._

 _"Run!" My father bellowed, unholstering his gun. With that order, my family ran. James, Dylan, and Dad went one way, followed by three seekers. My mom and my sister ran the other, also followed by . The clearing emptied until it was just Kyle and I, alone in the clearing._

 _Kyle shot me a knowing glance and we took off running into the woods, thinking that a Seeker hot on our heels. We hopped over bushes, around trees, and through puddles, trying to get a good lead on the man. Then I turned and realized something that I hadn't seen before. There were no Seekers behind us. They had all followed the rest of our family. We were runnin for no good reason._

 _I was about to tell this to Kyle, when I heard an awful noise._

 _It was a scream. An ear shattering, deafening scream. A scream that only my little sister could produce. Then, I heard them. The gunshots. Five of them, cracking through the air like a giant whip. My sister's screams stopped and all became silent._

 _Kyle and I just sat there stunned. Only my father had a gun, and we both knew what just happened. It was the escape plan. The only thing to do when you were caught, with no chance of escape. My family had just either been killed, or killed themselves, in order to keep from being caught._

 _They were gone. All of them. Mom, Dad, Dylan, James, and Charlotte. They were all dead._

 _I looked at Kyle with a look of pure horror, and I noticed that his eyes were full of tears._

 _"Well, we can't just stand here and wait for the to kill us." He said slowly. Then without another word, he took off running into the woods. After a few stunned moments, I followed him into the forest. I followed my brother, the only family I had left._

"It can't be. Y..you died!" I cried, pointing wildly at her. At this point, Jared just looked confused. Of course he was. He had no idea what important events were transporting in front of him.

"It's me Ian. It's Charlotte." She whispered, taking a step closer to me.

Suddenly, she reached forward and grabbed my hand. Her hands were the size of Wanda's, so mine swallowed hers alive. She stepped closer to me, so that she was right in front of me. I had to look down to meet her gaze, considering I was about a foot taller than her, but she didn't seem to mind. She held her stare for a few moments before saying something that I never expected to here ever again.

"I missed you bro."

Those four words broke me.

I grabbed her arms and wrapped her in a giant hug, tears streaming down my face. I rested my chin on her head, and I could feel her tears soaking my shirt, but I didn't kind. She was alive. My baby sister was alive. I didn't care why or how. She just was.

"I missed you too Cha-Cha."

We held this position for what seemed like hours, until the sound of someone coughing brought us back to the real world. Jared was standing there with his arms crossed, looking extremely confused.

"Yeah, sorry to break up, uh, whatever that was, but do you mind telling me what the hell is going on."

I let go of Charlotte slowly, still leaving my left arm on her shoulder. "Right. Sorry man. Charlotte, this is Jared." She gave him a small smile, while Jared nodded slowly. "Jared," I continued. "This is Charlotte, my baby sister, who up until now, I thought was dead."

Jared's jaw dropped down to the floor.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for not updating I a while, I've been super busy with school and my other stories. Also, sorry for the really short chapter. I've been dealing with a wee bit o' writers block. Please PM me ideas, I need some help. Also, I would love some reviews! Please enjoy guys!**

Jared's POV

My eyes got huge as I watched the scene unfold in front of me.

Ian stared at the girl with eyes full of confusion. The girl stood across from him, her long blonde hair shoved all onto one shoulder, her face covered in dirt. Her eyes matched his, full of the same level of confusion…..and fear.

"No." Ian gasped, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Charlotte?" He asked. Charlotte? Who the hell is Charlotte?

"Hi Ian." The girl said, a soft tone to her scratchy voice. How did they know each other? They just met! We all just met. Right?

"Charlotte?" He sputtered again. "It can't be…..you died!" He pointed his large finger wildly at her, his eyes growing wider by the second. He looked as if he was slowly coming to a realization, whether he liked it or not, I wasn't sure.

The girl took a step closer to Ian and I. "It's me Ian. It's Charlotte. I missed you bro."

Whatever she said, it made Ian break down. His eyes sprouted with tears and he ran towards the girl. Enveloping her in a bone crushing hug. She began to sob into his shoulder while he gently stroked her hair. He placed his chin on her head and closed his wet eyes. "I missed you Cha-Cha."

What the hell?

I watched me in complete and utter confusion for a few moments. They obviously knew each other, I have no idea how, or why, but they did. I slowly crossed my arms over my chest. I gave an awkward cough, breaking up the reunion. They turned and stared at me, eyes and faces still glistening with tears.

"Yeah, sorry to break up, whatever that was, but do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"

"Right, sorry man." Ian said quietly, draping an arm on the girl's shoulder. "Charlotte, this is Jared." He motioned to me with his free hand. Why was he introducing me to her first, not the other way around? Who the hell was she? She shot me a weak smile, her mind obviously somewhere else. "Jared, this is Charlotte, my baby sister, who up until now, I thought was dead."

Well, I most definitely was not expecting that to come out of his mouth.

"What?" I yelled, my voice strangely high pitched. I attempted to control it before speaking again. "She's your sister? You have a sister? Who lives out here? Who is alive?" All the questions came out rapid fire.

Charlotte nodded slowly. "Yeah. I've been living here for…..eight years now."

Eight years? Eight years? The girl could only be about fifteen years old. Had she been out there since she was seven?

"Yes. I do have a sister. A younger sister. Who is most definitely alive." Ian smiled proudly, looking at Charlotte with loving eyes. I couldn't blame him. If I found out that someone from my family was alive, I don't know how I would react.

"Let's sit down." She suggested, motioning to the cots in the corner. Slowly, we sat down, Charlotte and Ian on one cot, with me on the other. She looked at us with bright blue eyes.

It was then that I realized just how much she looked like Ian. Same brilliant blue eyes, slightly upturned noses, defined cheek bones, small dimples, smile lines. The same air of confidence. They were most definitely family.

"Well," Charlotte started. "You guys know that I live here. Where were you guys before…." She trailed off, eyeing us warily.

"We live in a cave system, in the desert, in New Mexico."

"Huh." She nodded her head, absorbing the words. "Just you two?"

"Hell no." I chuckled. "It's me, Ian, Wanda, Mel, Jamie, Jeb, Doc, Sharon, Maggie, and about twenty-seven more."

Charlotte's eyes got huge. "You mean, there are almost f...forty of you liv...living out there?"

"Yeah!" I said, unsure of why she was so confused, then it hit me. She had been living alone here for eight plus years. Completely and utterly by herself. I don't even know the last time she had talked to another human. It was probably when she last saw Ian, whenever that was.

"My god." She muttered, staring at the dirty cave wall. "And uh, anyone else? Any more O'Sheas?"

Ian nodded gently. "Kyle made it out."

Charlotte let out a long sigh, most likely of relief. She held her silence for a minute longer before finally speaking again. "So, you're saying, that I have lived out here alone for eight damn years, all alone, thinking that I was it. That is was the last one. And now, you're telling me that there are forty of you?" She looked on the verge of tears. This was all too overwhelming for her. Her breathing quickened and her hands became shaky. "Damn."

"I'm so sorry Cha." Ian muttered, his head hanging low. "If I had known you were alive, trust me. I would have torn the whole earth apart to find you."

"I believe it."

"Here's a question. How did you escape? We heard the shots. We heard you scream!" Ian looked at her with a fierce gazing, practically pulling the answers out of her. I was still fairly in the dark, but I couldn't bring myself to disrupt this moment.

"Well, the Seekers came after us. Three of them. All with Glocks. When mom saw them coming, she pulled her gun out, and gave it to me." Her voice broke in the middle of her story, her eyes glazed with a dull pain, as if reliving a hard memory. "Sh..she told me t..t..to climb a tree, I was pretty fast at that. So I climbed up, as far as I could go, but still be in shooting range. When I got to the top, I saw them. Three seekers, as big and ugly as football players, all coming after her. She began to scream at them, saying 'You ruined this world. Go burn in hell.' And then, when it looked like they were going to take her. I began to shoot. I shot down the man in back, then the man next to him. But, sadly, the third guy was faster. He pu..pul...pulled out his gun and shot mom, point blank, right in the chest. Before I could think, I shot him right in the head."

"And then, I screamed. That was the last time I saw another human."

She was hyperventilating, telling the story through tears and shaky breaths. I looked down at my feet, glumly. She had watched her mother get murdered, right in front of her. "How old were you?" I asked, because I needed to know.

"I'm fifteen now, so I was seven then."

My heart jumped to my throat. A seven year old girl forced to shoot three beings dead, and the. Watch her mother get murdered violently. No wonder she was so glad to see Ian and me. The last time she had seen a human had been watching her mother die. Talk about a hard life.

"Well, you are alive. And that's a good thing, because you definitely saved us."

Charlotte gave me a weak smile and wiped her face. After slowing her intense breathing, she looked up at me. "Yeah, I guess so. Now, about those caves….."

 **Please, please review! Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm back! Sorry for such a short chapter, but I haven't updated ina while, so here you guys go! Please leave a review before you go, it would really mean a lot. Or you could PM me if you have any questions or ideas or suggestions. Please enjoy!**

Melanie POV

It has been a few days since Ian and Jared di….went missing. I still refused to believe they were gone for good. I believed that they were out there. Maybe they were souls, but I knew, just like me, they wouldn't go down without a fight. Ian and Jared, they were the toughest people I knew.

They were still out there.

Everyone was treating me differently, like they did when Wanda got her new body. They offered me less demanding jobs and coddled me. They babied me, afraid that I would run for the hills.

It sucked.

All I wanted was for everything to get back to normal. I refused to be destroyed by this. I had faith that they were still out there, so I just wanted to carry on like normal. And to my surprise, so did Wanda.

I sat down at a table with my oatmeal and Wanda sat down next to me. Ever since her accident, she has been eating more. Wait, that was an understatement. She was eating everything given to her. I was glad she was feeling better.

"They're staring again." She mumbled, spooning some oatmeal into her mouth.

"What do you expect?" I groaned. "They are always staring, like they're waiting for us to flip out or something. I feel like a caged animal."

"Can I tell you a secret?" Wanda whispered suddenly, putting down her spoon. She looked at me with giant eyes, so I nodded. "I think they're still out there, whether or not they're alone in their heads anymore, but they're still out there. At least, that's what I think."

I smiled on the inside. "Can I tell you a secret? I think the same thing." That made her smile as she spooned more oatmeal into her mouth.

"Hi guys." Jamie said timidly, slowly sitting down next to us. He was one of the worst offenders of the 'watching'. I knew he was hurting just as much as we were, but he was trying to keep it together. He was trying to be mature, when he didn't have to be.

"Hey Jamie." Wanda smiled, still eating. I squeezed his shoulders. "So, I am going to go make soap...again." She groaned as she slid off of her seat, sighing as she stood up. "I really wish they would give me a real job." She strolled away, people's gazes following her out of the room.

"So Jamie, what do you have planned for today?" I finished the last of my oatmeal. "Anything Interesting, well, as interesting as things can get in these caves?" I giggled a little.

Suddenly, Jamie's eyebrows creases. "Why are you acting his way Mel?"

"What?"

"Why are you acting like this, like everything is just fine? Like Ian and Jared disappearing is just a minor incident? Aren't you even a little bit upset, or mad, or anything?" He was yelling now. Everyone in the room went silent. "You and Wanda are just acting like everything is fine! What is wrong with you?"

What was wrong with him? Jamie never yelled at me or at anyone. He was kind, I don't know what got into him. "Jamie, you don't think that Wanda and I are feeling anything? You don't think that everyday we have to wake up alone we die on the inside? Of course I'm upset Jamie. Of course I am sad. Do you think everything is fine with me? Of course I am not fine. Everyone is watching me and Wanda like we're little kids, or wounded animals! I am acting this way because, even though it is very unlikely, I think that they are still out there, human." I yelled. "Now forgive me if I want to get on with life!" With that, I stormed out, all eyes on me. I left Jamie behind, his mouth agape.

As soon as I hit the hall, I started running. I never yelled at Jamie ever, but I just snapped. I couldn't take it.

I ran to the end of the passageway, and decided to turn into the bathing room. I didn't hear anyone in there. I had to be alone.

When I got into the dark room, I let myself breathe. I wasn't mad at Jamie, I was mad at the world. I was mad about everything and at everyone.

"Rough time?" A voice called in the dark, scaring the living crap out of me. It was Wanda. She was kneeling by the water. I forgot she was working on the soap.

"How much did you hear?" I asked.

"All of it." She admitted. "Sounds carry in these caves." I was about to say something, but she cut me off. "No need to explain anything to me. I probably would have gone off like that too if I was provoked. And to be honest, I thought what you said was perfect. I'm glad you feel the same way I do."

"Thanks Wanda." She and I were practically sisters. I mean, we shared a body for crying out loud! I was just as close to her as I was to Jamie and Jared. If I couldn't have Jared, at least I had her by my side, and I think the story was the same on her side. I just stood there in silence for a few moments while Wanda continued working on the soap, until she let out a sigh.

"Mel…." she said quietly.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"I…" she trailed off again.

"What is it Wanda?" I said again.

Her face was tight. "I'm pregnant."

"What?" I said, a little loudly. We both looked around to see if anyone had heard us. I quieted down. "I mean, what? You're pregnant, like, going to have a baby? How long have you, when did you, why….." then it all made sense. That was why Ian had been so freaked out about Wanda's injury to the stomach, that's why he didn't want to leave her. "Well then. Are you...happy about it?"

Wanda looked at he ground. "Honestly, I don't know. It's just, how were we so reckless? How did we let this happen? It's too much. Now I know, I know, that if we want to keep the human race going, we would have to have kids eventually, it I just didn't expect eventually to come so soon."

I felt bad for Wanda. She looked so small, so frail on the dim light. "Well, who else knows?"

"Just the Doc and Ian." She said. "Oh, and Kyle."

"Kyle?" I raised an eyebrow.

"He's different now." Wanda said slowly. "He's family now. He's the baby's family. He deserves to know."

"Well," I said, sitting down beside her, playing with the dirt in my hands. "No matter what, you will have me. I will be there for you and the baby, for as long as I can."

 **Please leave a review! Please! See you later!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I really really hope you guys are enjoying my story. If you are, please review or PM me or give me a shoutout. I want to know what you guys think. Hope you all like this newest chapter**

Ian POV

I couldn't believe it. She was here. Right in front of me, flesh and blood. She was exactly how I imagined she would have looked like, since I thought she was dead all those years.

Her hair was long, down past her belly button. It was wavy, like my mom's had been, but the thing that made her different from the rest of us was the fact that her hair was bright blonde. All the rest of us had black hair, but not her. She was petite, only about 5'2, like Wanda was, in Pet's body. She had very prominent cheekbones and beautifully tanned skin. Her eyes were a bright, piercing blue. She wears toned, muscular, probably from running from Seekers for more than half of her life. She was perfect.

"So," Charlotte started, looking us up and down with her bright eyes. "These caves. And these 35 other people. How did...why did..what is it like."

"It's amazing." I smiled, letting her see that I wasn't lying. "After...that day, Kyle and I wandered in the desert for a few days, until Jeb found us." She looked like she was about to ask a question, but I continued. "Jeb is this older guy who lives in the caves with us. Crazy and curious about everything. ANyway, he had found these caves all the way back in the seventies, and he was going to let us live there along with the other human survivors. We've been there for almost seven years now."

"What about you Jared?" She looked at him.

"Uh," he seemed a little startled that she addressed him directly, as if he was expecting that he would just watch this conversation and not actually participate. "I came to the caves about three and a half years ago. I was with this other boy Jamie. Jeb is Jamie's uncle, and Jeb's sister Maggie, and her daughter Sharon. We were with another girl, but…" He trailed off, looking into the distance. This was a bit of a long story, and probably not one she needed to hear right now. "Anyway, we made it, and yeah." The ending was awkward, but I don't think Charlotte minded.

She contemplated that for a few moments, thing to herself. This was a probably a lot for her to handle. Up until a few days ago, she thought she was all alone. She probably hasn't even talked to another human being since she was torn from her family.

"Wow." She looked at us. "Just, wow. I always thought, I was alone. No one was ever going to find me. And now you're telling me that you come from a place full of humans?"

We nodded.

"But, we really need to get back." I added. We had to get going soon. It was already hard enough being gone from Wanda and the baby this long but…...oh god. Wanda. My face drained of all color. She thought, she probably thought I was dead. She knew that I would sooner kill myself than have a Soul put into me. She was probably in pain now, just sitting there, wondering how she was going to have this baby alone. Of course, she wasn't alone at all. She had Melanie, and Jamie, and Jeb, and Doc. She was the furthest thing from alone. Still, it felt wrong to make her suffer like this.

"Ian?" Jared's gruff voice pulled me out of my thoughts. His dark eyes searched my face for any hot on what I was thinking about. I shook my head. I tried to give him a look that said Later!. If Charlotte noticed, she kept her mouth shut.

"Yeah? Sorry I must have zoned out." I shook my head, trying to clear it out.

"I was just saying," Charlotte said. "You guys have been away, or at least in the hospital, for 7 days."

Seven days? "They kept us in their for seven days!?" I assumed it had only been a couple of hours, maybe a day at the most. But a week? That just made the hollow feeling in my stomach more prominent, I felt the bile rising in my throat. A week had passed. By now, they had pronounced us dead.

"They kept you there, trying to decide what to do. Whether or not to put a parasite in you. They waited so long because they didn't know what to do." She eyed warily, afraid anything she said would cause me to zone out again. I just stared. Jared,though , was paying complete attention.

"What did they finally decide on?" He asked hesitantly, like he didn't want to know the answer.

 **(Please leave a review or PM me)**

"Insertion." She said quietly, her body quivering as if the very word made her uncomfortable.

So, without Charlotte, I wouldn't be alone in my head right now. She saved me, Jared. She saved no of us, and in turn, saved Wanda, Jamie, and Melanie. She was a hero.

There was a question that had been nagging me, knowing at my brain. I had to know. "How did you...how did you know all of this? About the decision? How did you know where we were?"

Her face flushed red, like she was embarrassed. "I was kind of stalking you guys. Well, not really. I had been in the back of the hospital that day, stealing medicines for myself, when I saw you guys doing the same thing. I was curious, so I kept watching, until the Seekers came. Then, after they took you away, I snuck into the hospital. Not the restricted area, just the normal hospital, and I kept going between there and here the whole week. Everyday I would ask someone new, and new Medical student, if they had made a decision. This morning, they finally did. But it was alright. By then, I already had a plan."

Jared and I stared at her, our mouths wide. She had pulled this whole thing off by herself. She was incredible. My little sister was one of the smartest, strongest people I had ever met. Apparently our shock had flattered her, because her face had turned a violent shade of Crimson. She looked at her hands awkwardly. We needed a new topic.

"Are we in Tucson still?" I asked.

She nodded quickly, the red in her face going away slightly. "Yeah, just outside, in the only forest anywhere near here. You go a couple miles north, you're in the desert."

"That we do know." Jared smiled, laughing a little. "I know how to get to the caves by the road, but not by foot. If we took the normal car route, it would take us, on a good day, two hours in the jeep. On foot, it would take us at least two days, and that's not considering the heat, or any complications that may arise."

"You can't take the road." Charlotte sighed. "They'll find you. You need to go the desert way. It will be just as long, and probably more difficult, but it is safer that way."

Jared and I exchanged a look. We both knew she was right. We had to go the desert way, neither of us liked that fact though. We hadn't had much luck in the desert before this.

"We will need supplies. Food and a whole hell of a lot of water." I said, mentally preparing.

"You guys can take all you want from my store." Charlotte smiled. She stood up of the cot and popped her back loudly. Shen then walked over to the corner of the room. There was a pile of food, bottled water, and supplies that could have rivaled anything we had in the caves. Damn, she just kept surprising me. "On one condition though."

"What's that?" Jared asked, completely oblivious.

"Take me with you."

I just stared at her and smiled. She knew we were going to take her, but having us say it made it more real. It made it seem like it was not all in her head.

"Of course we'll bring you Cha." I smiled back.

Her face broke out into the widest grin I have ever seen. "Alright then, we'll leave tomorrow. We need to rest before we go."


	12. Chapter 12

**Another chapter for another day! I hope you all liked the rest of my story and want to continue reading this. It would mean so much if you left a review or PMed me. I could really use the support. Feel free to criticize or comment. Any feedback is helpful. Much love!**

 **Jared POV**

I stared at the black ceiling, rolling my shoulders in an attempt to get the stiffness out. Charlotte was lying on the small twin bed next to mine. She had offered it to Ian, but he felt bad making his little sister, who had saved our lives, sleep on the floor. Honestly, I would have given her my bed at this point.

Charlotte had gathered everything we would need, food, lots of water, and spread them out evenly between our three backpacks. She also had a lightweight tarp attached to the top of her bag. I didn't know why she had it, but at this point I wasn't going to question her. We had just laid down because she had insisted that we all rest up before tomorrow.

I had tried to reason with her, saying that it was more safe to move at night, but she just waved a hand at me. Then she explained herself. It was already daylight. We had been talking in here for hours, gathering supplies all day. We were going to sleep for the rest of the daylight, and move out when the sun went down.

My eyelids were heavy. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I right now. Sure, I had been out for a few days, but it was not a peaceful unconsciousness. It was plagued with sadness, dreams, memories, fear. Now was the time for me to truly rest. I needed to be strong for this journey.

Slowly, my eyes fluttered closed. My breathing slowed and I went under.

" _Jared!" My brother Christopher screamed. "We have to go!"_

 _I rolled my eyes. Thank you, Captain Obvious. Of course we needed to_ _go. The Seekers were going to be here any moment now. I was not going to get turned into a parasite today!_

" _I'm sure your shouting is keeping us very well hidden Chris!" I laughed back. Now it was Chris's turn to roll his eyes. We had always been so similar me and him. He was only 11 months older than me, and he never let me forget it._

" _Shut up loser." He punched me playfully in the shoulder, but when you are 6'4, even playfully hurts. I rubbed my arm in mock pain. Chris rolled his eyes once again. It was amazing how we could inject levity into a situation like this, but we found a way. The Howes always found a way._

" _Yoo-hoo." A voice called out in the darkness. Chris and I stiffened, the light hearted air replaced with cold tension. They were here. The Seekers were here. Silently, we started running away from the direction of the voice. Beams of light bathed the walls as they swished their flashlights around, seeking us out._

 _Suddenly, the lights weren't behind us anymore. They were shining, directly on Chris's face. Silently, he shoved me away, making sure I was still invisible to them. It was too late. Chris's eyes were open. It was clear._

 _His eyes were clouded, sad. He knew what this meant. I knew what this meant. He shot me a look, his outstretched hand on my chest. But, the look wasn't of fear or anger. No. That look was a look of pity. Why did he feel bad?_

" _Sorry Jared." Was all he whispered. And then I felt it. A strange stinging sensation. I looked down and saw a syringe jammed into my chest, clear liquid being injected into my body. HE was using my heart condition against me. Everything began to spin. I felt my heart slow, my breathing grow haggard. This was how I was going to die. By getting stabbed in the chest with a syringe full of fluid, by myself brother nonetheless._

 _And then the world went black._

'

I woke with a start. Everything was moving. It was only after a couple of shaky breaths when I realized that I was the one that was moving. I was the one that was shaking. I had had this dream before. It was a memory, and not a very pleasant one,

It was the memory of the last time I had seen a human before I had met Melanie That was the day when I gave up. The day they took my I last remaining brother. That was the day when I had resigned myself to the fact that I was all alone.

My heart pounded in my chest, and my hands wandered up to feel it. I hadn't told anyone, but I had been born with a heart condition. My heart beat slowly, very slowly, almost unhealthily slow. That day, my brother had injected me with a fluid that had slowed down my heart so much that when the Seekers finally saw me, they thought I was dead. I had woken up the next day in a funeral home.

Talk about terrifying.

I don't know why I had never told anybody about my heart. It was probably because I didn't want them to think any less of me. I was, after all, one of the strongest ones left. I had saved them. They needed me to be something different. They needed me to be their hero. I couldn't take that away. Not now.

"Jared?' Charlotte whispered, her voice coming from across the room. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I said, my breath slowing down. "Just, dreaming."

"I get those kinds of dreams a lot too." She smiled a little. She was lacing up her tennis shoes. SHe had on a pair of jean shorts and a light red tank top. SHe looked so much like Ian and Kyle that I felt stupid for not connecting them sooner. "Well, we better wake up Sleeping Beauty over there." Sure enough, Ian was sprawled out, all of his limbs hanging over the edge of the cot. I laughed a little.

"Ian. Ian. Get up man." I said loudly, shaking his left leg, the limb closest to me. "Ian. We gotta go."

"I know. I know." He grumbled, sitting up slowly. His back popped as he sat up. "I am so ready to get back." I knew how he felt. With how much I was missing Mel, I knew he was missing Wanda just as much. Those two were inseparable. I could sense thE pain inhibits voice. They probably thought we were dead. Wanda had been dying when we left. Oh god. What if Kyle hadn't gotten to her in time? What if he hadn't gotten the medicine at all? What is Wanda was really dead right now?

"She's gonna be fine man. She's fine. I know it." I tried to keep my voice steady through all of this. Ian shot me a grateful look and a weak smile. He was trying his best to hold it together. Charlotte glanced at the two of us, obviously confused by this, but she didn't press any further. She could ask us later.

"Well then, " she smiled. "Let's get going." She's walked back over to the edge of the room. Ian and I grabbed our packs and followed. It wasn't until now that I realized all the papers and things that had been on the floor were all gone. She must have packed the up too. She stood on a little stool and began to push up the hatch. I could tell she was struggling because of her small stature, so I ran over and pushed it up for her. She smiled at me and, with a very impressive jump, pulled herself up and out of the bunker. Ian and I followed suit.

It was cooler at night, but we were still in Arizona, so it was still pretty hot. We had decided to go through the woods and the desert, close enough to see the highway, but far enough away that we were invisible to cars driving by. We estimated that the trip would take us three days or so, barring any major complications.

Ian was the last out. After he was fully outside, Charlotte turned and closed the hatch, waiting until she heard the satisfying _thud_ to stand up again. Then she looked at us. The gleam in her eyes reminded me of Jeb and his crazy antics. Oh yeah, she would fit right in.

"Let's roll!"

She turned and started running north. Ian and I kept pace with her. She was quick, agile, dodging trees, branches, the very very rare puddle. She reminded me a little of Mel as well. Her breathing stayed normal, which surprised me. She was incredibly athletic. Ian kept his eyes forward, staring intently at his little sister.

We ran for what felt like a few hours or so. I couldn't tell. It was really dark. All of us had been so used to running that the distance did not affect us that much. There was so much adrenaline coursing through our veins, it would have taken a truck to stop us.

Or the hot, glaring Arizona sun.

Yeah. That would do it.

When the sun came up, I knew we would not be able to keep the same pace. The sun would dry us up before too long. We made the executive decision to stop and rest for a little while, get rehydrated and such. We were all breathing heavily when we finally found a place to stop. We had made it out of the woods and into the desert. Shady spots were few and far between. We settled in a little cool spot next to a giant rock.

Charlotte pulled a water bottle out of her pack and took a small sip. Then she passed it to Ian, who accepted it gratefully. We had gone without water before, but with the freshwater in the caves, we had gotten used to the luxury. I accepted wholeheartedly when the bottle found its way to me.

I sipped the water and leaned against the rock. Charlotte had already passed out next to me, and Ian was close behind her. I just stared out, over the horizon. I wondered about Melanie, about Jamie. About everyone in the caves.

Were they sad? Were they scared? Did they think we had died, or did they think we had been turned into hosts? Did they think we would lead the Seekers to them? No. I quickly put that thought away. They knew us too well. They knew that Ian and I would fight like hell to keep all other souls away from our families.

Little did they know, we were still human, and we were coming home.

 **Please follow, favorite, PM, or review! I would love the support.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Another chapter for another day. Okay, now let's get real. I need to know if I am just wasting my time with this story, because I feel like I am. I can't tell if anyone likes what I am writing because I am getting no feedback. So please, please, please leave a review for me after this chapter. I would love you for all time. Seriously, critique, help, insult, praise, just say hi. I do not care. Please leave a review.**

 **Wanda POV**

It had been 9 days since Ian and Jared disappeared.

It had been 8 days since I had told Kyle about my pregnancy, and he had sworn to protect me for forever.

7 days since I had told Mel.

6 days since everyone started to work again, like normal.

5 days since people actually began to treat me like a human and not a wounded puppy.

4 days since Jeb had found out about the baby, most likely because Mel had told him.

3 days since everyone else found out.

2 days since since Maggie officially stopped talking to anybody affiliated with me.

1 day since Brandt and Aaron had come back from the outside, their eyes full of sadness while they reported what they found. Nothing. Ian and Jared were completely and totally gone. Nowhere to be found.

Call me crazy, but I still believed they were out there.

I was almost three months along in my pregnancy now. Apparently, according to Doc, it would barely be showing in a normal woman. But since I am so small, I was beginning to show. My clothes were getting a little too tight around my stomach, and I found my hands absentmindedly roaming across my belly. Still, it was only noticeable to me.

I had been so freaked out to tell everyone in the caves about my baby. Would they be mad at me? Disgusted? Ashamed? Scared? Would they tell me to have an abortion? Would they tell me to leave?

I remembered the conversation Jared and Melanie had had a few years ago, one of the memories I had seen while in Mel's body. They hadn't….been _intimate_ because the thought of bringing a child into this world was unbearable. A human child. A baby would be helpless, completely unable to protect themself from harm. From Seekers. I couldn't do that. I couldn't force that on a child.

But then again, this baby would be mine. My baby. Half Ian, and..well, half this body, but I would raise them like me. I would raise them to not be scared of the world, to not be scared of the Soul. I would protect them and help they. They would be okay.

I shook my head. These thoughts were way too deep for right now. I had to get back on track.

I was kneading the course bread dough, up to my elbows in the gluey paste. I had been confined to kitchen, laundry, and soap duty, much to my dismay. I tried to tell them that I was fine to work, but they wouldn't have it. I would have fought it more, but at that point Kyle had entered the conversation, and I was never going to be able to win a fight with _that_ man. So, angrily, I trudged off to the kitchen and began to work.

"Hey there Wanda!" Candy smiled, giving me a big, friendly wave as she entered the kitchen. I just nodded, as my arms were stuck in the dough. She was closely followed by Lacey who, over the past few months, had grown to accept our chores and our way of life. Now, she was just a thief human in the caves. Can't say I minded the change in her attitude.

"Hi Candy, Lacey." I smiled. The two came over to me and began to knead the dough beside me.

"So Wanda," Candy started. "How are you feeling today? Any nausea? Pain? Mood swings?"

I shook my head. "I am doing alright today Candy. But thanks for caring."

"It's my job to care Wanda." She said with a light smile. "But I am glad to know that I am appreciated."

We worked in silence for a while. The silence was not uncomfortable, no. It was peaceful, content. It was just that none of us had anything that we needed to say that badly. While the silence held around us, my thoughts began to wander again.

This time they landed on Ian.

I missed him. I missed him so much. So much that it made my heart hurt, it made my hands go numb when I thought about him. I saw him everywhere, when I went to our room every night to sleep, when I talked to Jamie at meals, when Kyle helped me do little tasks, even though I could do them with ease. His presence, or lack thereof, had definitely left a hole in our community. Couple that with the pain of losing Jared, and it was a miracle I woke up every morning. I loved Jared, but not in the way I used to love him. Not with passion, with fire. Not with desire or lust. No. I loved him like a brother, like a family member I had known my whole life. The hole he left was just as big.

My talk with Mel had definitely helped. It was nice to know that I wasn't alone, that I wasn't completely foolish for holding on to the minuscule amount of hope that they would return any day now, completely fine and completely human. I knew it was highly unlikely, but I didn't care. That was my hope, and I would not dare let it go.

 **PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW**

I smiled numbly and excused myself from the kitchens, saying I had to go wash up. The truth was, I needed a destruction, something to drag my thoughts away from Ian and Jared.

As I turned down the tunnel, towards the bathing room, I ran into someone. Physically ran right into them. I stumbled backwards clumsily, trying to regain my footing. Luckily, a pair of strong arms caught me before I could hit the ground.

"Oh my god Wanda! I am so sorry." Kyle's gruff voice was apologetic. I gave him a smiled and waved my hand.

"It's fine Kyle." I laughed. "But I must say, you are quite solidly built." That caused him to chuckle. It was then that I noticed the bin of dishes on the ground next to him. He must have stopped to get a better grip, and I had rammed right into him. Wow. How clumsy was I! "Dish duty?"

"Yeah. I finished up my field work earlier. I just, needed something to do." He said the last part quietly, barely a whisper. I understood how he felt. I needed a distraction too.

"Well, why don't I come with you?" I raised my dough covered hands. "I need to wash up a little." He gave me a smile and picked up the dishes. Slowly, we walked down the tunnel. It was hard to believe that a little over a year ago, he had wanted to kill me. Huh.

What a strange world.

 **Kyle's POV**

As we walked to the bathing room, I tried to avoid looking at Wanda. Every time I looked at her, I instantly felt bad. Every time I saw her, it made my head hurt. If only I had gotten out of the car, if only we had gotten there sooner. Maybe I could have saved them. Maybe they would be here now. Maybe if I had gone to get the mess instead.

I thought about her baby, her and Ian's baby, my niece or nephew, and I felt a new wave of guilt. Not for Wanda, but for Ian. He would never know his child, his son or daughter. They would have to grow up with a single mother. It was a horrible thing to face.

I put the dishes down by the water's edge and slowly began to pull them out, trying to distract myself with the chore. Wanda knelt beside me, gently washing off her small hands.

"Kyle?" She asked timidly,

"Mm-hmm?" I said, not looking up. I didn't know what she wanted to say, but I wasn't about to stop her.

"What were they like?" She asked me slowly. "Your siblings? Dylan and James and….uh Chari…"

"Charlotte." I corrected her gently. I stared at my hands, washing the dishes slowly and methodically, trying to formulate an answer. "They were a lot like us." I said finally. "Me and Ian. Dylan was the oldest, just by a few minutes. He was tall, the tallest of all the boys. He was really good at science, like _scary_ good. He was an engineer before the invasion. Aerospace." I laughed a little at that. My brother had spent his entire life obsessed with rockets and space travel. Bet he never thought that was exactly how his life would end.

"He sounds nice. I can't believe you and Ian had a brother who was smart." She giggled lightly, turning her head. I just rolled my eyes. She could be quite sarcastic when she wanted to be. "What about James?"

I placed another dish in the bin before I started to speak again. "James was, he was like the All-American, boy next door type guy." She was looking at me, her confusion written all over her face. I laughed internally. I forgot she was a Soul sometimes. She probably had absolutely no idea what any of the things I just said mean. So I elaborated. "He was every parent's dream child. Captain of the football and track teams, prom king, second in his class. He went to Princeton." She nodded her head at the name of the college. She was a teacher. Even she knew about Princeton.

"Huh." Wanda just nodded, absorbing all of the new information. She Slowly knelt down next to me and began to wash the dishes, her eyes focused on her task. "And uh...what about Charlotte?"

"Charlotte was amazing." I said with a sigh, remembering my bright eyed little sister. "She was only seven when…..so I never got the chance to see her grow up. But, she was smart. She was musical and funny and smart and beautiful. If I had gotten to see her grow up…..I think she would be a lot like you."

That caused Wanda to stop. She put her plate down, her hands trembling. She looked up at me with wide eyes, the iridescent ring barely shimmering in the dark room. That little ring of light. That little ring was what had made me hate her. What had made me try and kill her all those months ago. Instantly a wave of guilt washed over me once again. How could I have been so horrible?

But those thoughts didn't seem to bother Wanda. Instead, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around my neck. She placed her head on my shoulder. It took a moment for me to get over the shock before I returned the gesture, wrapping my arms around her as well. I couldn't remember the least time I had been hugged. It felt weird, like something I had never experienced before. I liked it.

"Thank you Kyle." She whispered, her voice muffled by my shoulder. For the first time, I felt something between us. A relationship. A friendship. We had embraced each other's presence. We were family now, almost siblings. That was never going to change.

Then I felt something else between us. Literally.

For the first time I noticed that Wanda's stomach had swollen, ever so slightly. This baby, my family, was real.

"I didn't notice." I murmured.

"What?" She asked.

"You're showing." You could hear the smile in my voice. I felt her nod her head. I smiled even bigger.

We were going to be okay. Me, Wanda, the baby. They were my family now. And I was going to protect them no matter what.

 **Please leave a REVIEW or PM me. I really need to know if I should continue, or focus more on my other story.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A HUGE HUGE thank you goes out to all those who reviewed and PMed me for my last chapter. I really enjoy feedback because then I can finally tell if you guys like what I am writing, or if I am just wasting my time. Even if you don't like leaving reviews or don't know what to say, please just leave one. Say anything. It doesn't even have to be about the story. Please just say something. Please enjoy this newest chapter. PM me if you have any ideas for the story!**

 **Disclaimer- Host belongs to SM. How she wrote Twilight after this amazing book, the world may never know.**

 **Charlotte POV**

I woke up to someone shaking my arm. Was it time to start going already? I mumbled something unintelligible before opening my eyes. I had to blink several times to get myself accustomed to the harsh glare of the setting desert sun. I had gotten so used to sleeping underground that sunsets were almost unfamiliar to me.

My entire body was slumped against a larger form. _Ian_ , I thought sleepily to myself. He must have moved here after I was already out. I heard Jared shake Ian next to me. It was time to keep going.

The moment I stood up my eyes widened in the light. Jared turned to look in my direction. Without hesitation I looked down and pretended to tie my shoe. Nothing weird, no secret intentions.

Well, none that Jared could see anyway.

As I bent over, I shut my eyes and focused hard. _Human._ I thought. _Human. Think human. Human. Human._ I focused for a few moments, until I was almost certain that the crisis was averted. I stood back up and decided to test it. I looked Jared dead in the eye, and he smiled a little at me.

Good. Good.

My joints popped as I stretched my legs, my arms, my back. Yesterday's run had left me tired, but I wasn't out of shape. I could run with the big boys, or at least _these_ boys. I yawned as I rolled my shoulders. Ian was next to me now, doing the same thing. Jared was digging in his pack, pulling out three granola bars, one for each of us. It seemed weird that I wasn't all that hungry, considering all I had done earlier was run, but my stomach was churning so much that I took the food and put it in my pocket, to save for later. I did, however, take a sip of water from our communal water bottle. I knew I had to drink, even if I didn't want to. It was necessary for survival.

"Ready to get going again?" Jared said with a grin.

Ian responded with an "Oh hell yeah!", while I just nodded my head. I wanted to get to these caves quickly. I mostly wanted a nice bath. I hadn't had one of those in a while. My dirty,greasy hair was in two French braids that fell over my shoulders, so you couldn't tell just how gross it was. I am sure I smelled awful, but hey, they did too. I couldn't see my reflection, but I could have taken a guess as to what it looked like. Tan face, covered in red, desert dirt, a scar down my chin, a dimple on the left cheek, two bright, icy blue eyes.

After another minute or so, Ian started going, with me and Jared quickly on his tails. During our last run, we had realized that time went a little faster when we started up a conversation. Neither Jared nor my brother knew exactly what to say to me to get me talking, so I decided to take the bull by the horns and ask them.

"So Jared." I said, breathing in carefully, my feet pounding softly against the desert sand. "Do you have any family, back in the caves?"

"Not blood." He answered. I couldn't tell if my question had upset him or not. He kept his face clear of emotion."But I do have family. My girlfriend, Melanie."

I was about to respond, but I was cut off. "Girlfriend?" Ian raised his eyebrow at him, falling into place beside us. "Please. You two are practically married. Call her your wife."

Jared rolled his eyes at her, and muttered something that I couldn't understand. Whatever he said made Ian grunt in agreement, though. "Yeah. Okay. My _wife_ Melanie. She lives there, with her little brother Jamie. Well, not little. Younger. He's about your age. And Melanie's Uncle Jeb, he's the one who's kind of in charge of all the caves. And Mel's Aunt Maggie and cousin Sharon are there too."

"Huh." I said, thinking about what he had told me. Those names, I felt like I had heard them before, in a dream. Probably because they had already told me about them yesterday…..but still….. Now was not the time to dwell on hunches. I decided to keep the conversation going. "So, uh, what about you Ian? Any special lady friends?" Jared laughed at my tone. I raised an eyebrow at Ian. He was blushing. Hard. So there _was_ a woman. "Oh come on Ian. Tell me! I've been alone for years! I need gossip, details."

"Umm, I umm…" Ian stuttered, his face red. Jared was just shaking his head next to him, chuckling slightly. "Yeah." He finally composed herself. "Her name is Wanda."

"Wanda." I let the name roll off my tongue. I liked that name. Short, simple, cute. "So what is this Wanda like?"

At that question, Ian shot a look at Jared, and I could tell the two were having a silent conversation with their eyes. They were trying to decide something. Was there something so wrong with this Wanda chick that they couldn't tell me? This made me a little nervous.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Jared just shrugged his shoulders, which is very hard to do while running. Ian cleared his throat and looked at me. "Wanda is….well she's not….she's…"

"Spit it out Ian." I pushed him, anxious to know what was on his mind.

"She's a soul."

Those three words stopped me in my tracks. She was...a Soul? An alien? My brother was with a Soul?

So, naturally, I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Huh. Nifty." Was all I said.

They were both watching me, their eyes filled with surprise, but the rest of their faces were blank, emotionless. They were trying to gauge my reaction. Trying to see if I was going to flip out.

Little did they know, this was the most amazing thing I had ever heard. My brother was in love with a Soul. There was a parasite out there that didn't hate humans. She was a soul that had said "Hey, you know what? I like humans. They're not too bad!" She had decided that she didn't want to I be part of the invaders. She had gone to our side.

I had had a little experience in that department. But I thought I was the only one.

I suddenly noticed that Ian and Jared had both stopped as well, steadying their breathing. They were in a hushed conversation, but I could still make out their words.

"We shouldn't have told her." Ian shook his head.

"And what?" Jared fired back. "Wait until we get back and she meets her and she flips out like everyone else? No. It was better that we tell her now and get her prepared. She can hear our side of things before coming to any snap judgements."

"I'm not judging anything." I said, running into the middle of their conversation. "Or anyone, for that matter." They seemed surprised that I had heard their conversation, but it didn't phase me. "And for the record, they fact that she's a Soul, it doesn't bother me." I took off running again. I didn't see their faces, but I could have guessed the surprise in their eyes.

"What?" Ian sounded shocked as the two came into step beside me. "The fact that she's a Soul doesn't bother you?"

"No." I shook my head, keeping my eyes forward.

"But why not?" Jared asks, the surprise in his voice just as apparent as Ian's.

"Because." I said firmly. " _Anything_ , anyone who makes my brother happy, they can't be all that bad can they?" I turned just in time to see my brother's face slowly break into a smile.

We ran in silence for a while. Luckily, I was a little in front, so neither guy could see my face, and maybe see the silent war that was raging behind my calm facade.

 **PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!**

 _I have to tell them_. I thought. _They deserve to know the truth, the real me._ I shook my head slowly, careful not to make it noticeable. _My brother is in love with an Alien. How mistrusting and evil could they be?_

 _Very._ I was now arguing with myself. _They could get mad at you, think you are going to betray them. They could hate you….or kill you._

I tried to dismiss those thoughts. I had to tell them, but now was not the time.

We kept on running, even though it was completely dark out now. Darkness was our best ally at the moment. It concealed us, kept us hidden. It was our friend.

The boys hadn't pressured me anymore about my feelings on Wanda. I figured they were trying to figure things out in their minds as well, but things were getting awkward. Someone needed to say something, soon.

"So Jared." I said, slowing down to meet them. They were still staring at me questioningly, but it didn't bother me. "How did you and Melanie meet?"

"Oh, well...we kind of…. We met because of the invasion." He said awkwardly. I gave him a look, urging him to continue. "I had been alone, for years during the invasion. Then, one night, I met Melanie. She was the first human I had seen in years. Then she introduced me to Jamie. And we became a family. For a while anyway."

"For a while?" I asked. I had to keep our conversation going, before the awkwardness came back and captured us all.

"One night, Melanie decided she had to go to Chicago. That's where her Aunt Maggie and coursing Sharon were. I wanted to go with her, but only she knew where to find them. They were going to work together to find Jeb and his caves. And we were all going to go together...until…"

"Until?"

I saw Jared shaking his head, like he was clearing his thoughts. "Until she didn't come back. For weeks, we waited, Jamie and I, but she never returned. We both knew what that meant." He added the last part sadly. I was very confused at this point. They had never said anything about Melanie being a soul of too. "We eventually the found Sharon and Maggie and made it to the caves."

"But wait, you said Melanie was there now." Oh yeah, this was confusing. "What happened?"

"A little over a year ago, Mel came back. She found the caves." Jared said his words slowly and methodically. "But she wasn't alone."

"What?"

"She wasn't alone. She wasn't human. There had been a Soul implanted in her."

"But Melanie was still there, in her body." Ian elaborated. "She was alive and kicking. She had dragged herself, with the help of the Soul in her body, across the desert to find Jared and Jamie. She loved them so much that she didn't fade away."

"So Melanie's a Soul as well?" I asked, still utterly bewildered.

"No." Jared stated. "With the help of the Soul inside Melanie, we learned how to….well, take the parasites _out_ of the bodies they wore, and bring back the human inside."

My eyes grew wide, and I quickly looked back at the ground. _Human, human, human._ I thought. Now was not the time to deal with this. They knew how to take the Souls out of the humans. They could bring humans _back_. This was amazing. Incredible. This could change the course of _everything_. This could change it all.

After focusing on the word _Human_ for a few more moments, I finally looked back up towards them.

"Who was the Soul?" I asked. "The one that was in Melanie's body?"

"It was Wanda. Or, Wanderer, as most Souls knew her."

 **Please review! I would love you for all time.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Another one down. Please leave a review. You have absolutely no idea how happy I am every time you guys review. Please let me know what you think, tell me your ideas, criticisms, questions, comments. I really hope you keep on reading.**

 **Please, of course I don't own the Host.**

 **Ian POV**

I don't know how I expected Charlotte to act when we told her the truth about Wanda. Surprised? Angry? Maybe she would scream at us? Call us traitors? Refuse to live in caves with a Soul? Run away, refuse to help us? Maybe she would just up and shoot us right there? Something big, brash, dramatic. I expected to have to hold her down while we talked some sense into her. To have her give us the silent treatment for the rest of the trip. To have her question me, question my choices, for days on end. I expected something like that.

I was not expecting " _Huh. Nifty."_

Which is what I got.

For the rest of the run, I tried to focus on Charlotte's questions, but I was more trying to focus on Charlotte. I had just dropped a bomb on her, a huge, life changing, mind altering, confusing bomb. And all she had said was _NIFTY._

Her reaction, though, triggered something in me. A sense of pride, a feeling of happiness that I had never known before. My sister wasn't some soulless human. She didn't automatically jump to the worst conclusions, like we all had so many months ago when we had found Wanda in the desert. Her first thoughts were not of violence or anger. Her first thoughts were of hope, of the possibilities that we had created. She was an optimist. Even in the midst of the worst situation possible, she looked on the bright side.

We ran and ran. Charlotte shot one question after another, about the caves, Wanda, Melanie, Kyle, and the extraction of souls. This had always been a sore spot with other humans, but she didn't seem to mind at all. Either that, or she had a very nice poker face. Every once in awhile, though, when she got distracted or tired, she would look away from us quickly and look down towards her feet, muttering something unintelligible under her breath as she did so. I didn't know what it was. Maybe she was talking to herself. It seemed possible. She had been alone all these years.

"So, I've heard all about Wanda and Melanie." She said with a smile, as if organizing the details in her brain. "Tell me about some of the other people. You mentioned Jamie, Jeb, Maggie, and Sharon. Any others?"

"You have a great memory." Jared said to her. All of our chests were heaving as we kept on running. "I couldn't remember their names that well even after I met them!'

"Photographic memory." Charlotte said, pointing a finger toward her brain. I furrowed my brows at this. How had I forgotten? Even as a little kid, Charlotte had remembered every detail about everything. The doctors had told my parent that she had a photographic memory as soon as she was old enough to tell them about it all. How on Earth had I forgotten that? "Anyway, tell me more!"

"Well, there's Jamie." Jared said. "He's Mel's brother, about...actually he turns 16 next week! He's a lot like Mel, but also a lot like Wanda. He's really tall, my height now, and he has long brown hair. He's really strong, but he has a good heart. He was the first one, aside from Jeb, to welcome Wanda into our little community. He always sees the best in people."

I liked Jared's description of Jamie. The kid and I had become pretty close over the past year, and now we were practically family. Although, sometimes I felt bad for him. We had known him for years, and we still treated him like then 10 year-old kid he was. He was almost sixteen. He was never going to go to high school, or play sports, or go to prom, or have a girlfriend. There were no girls his age.

Wait. Charlotte was 15, only a year younger than him. That meant…..Oh my god. Jamie was going to have a crush on my sister. I just knew it.

I rolled my eyes a little. It was stupid to think about things like that right now. We needed to get to the caves _first._

"And then there's Trudy. She has brown eyes and her face is worn into smile lines. You'll love her. She adores people. And Lily, she has blonde hair and green eyes." Jared was going on, telling Charlotte about everyone in the caves. It all made me a little nostalgic. I missed them so much. I couldn't wait to get back.

It took me a moment to realize that the sun was coming up. We had been running for _hours_ , and I had barely noticed. Talking to Charlotte, time seemed to slip away. All that mattered was that she was here, she was alive, and we were only about two days from home.

We found another rock cluster to make camp at. I slid my pack off and sat down slowly, leaning my aching back against the wall. Jared was beside me, uncapping the water. We were on our third one now. I pulled out some crackers and cheese that I had been keeping in a ziplock bag and began to munch. I could feel each morsel enter my stomach with a fulfilling thud. Boy, I was exhausted.

"There are some rocks over there." Charlotte stood in front of us, pointing towards across the flat desert another rock cluster about 400 meters away. "I'm gonna go….." She trailed off and awkwardly walked away. We got it. I had to pee pretty badly too, but I was alright for now. All I wanted to do at this moment was sit here and eat.

When she was far enough away that she could no longer hear us, I turned to Jared and said what we were both thinking.

"Her reaction to Wanda was...strange."

"Tell me about it." Jared nodded, popping a cracker in his mouth. "I was expecting her to flip out. Definitely not to be okay with it."

I nodded slowly, and I felt my eyelids grow heavy and a yawn escaped my lips. I was so tired. Charlotte _had_ offered to keep watch today, and Jared was already out cold. Maybe I could just shut my eyes for a minute…..

 _A shrill sound pierced my ears. An alarm? Was the house on fire? I had to get Charlotte out. I had to save her. She was only a toddler. She still had a life to live. The alarm continued, growing louder and louder. Where was it coming from? Charlotte...I had to save Charlotte._

My eyes burst open. The sound was still there. It was a sound I knew all too well. A sound of anguish, of fear, the sound of a life being ruined. It was a sound she had made all those years ago. Where was she?

I stood up in a second, getting a slight head rush from the sudden movement. My eyes showered the horizon, squinting in the harsh glare of the desert sun. The sound was coming from somewhere out here. Where was she? Where was she?

And then, in a flash of pain and anguish, my eyes found her.

 **Jared POV**

They dragged her across the flat land, her legs flailing around aimlessly while they held her up by her arms. They were so much bigger than her. She wasn't even touching the ground. They had caught her. They had caught us.

The Seekers.

Not the entire group that had caught them, but a few of them were there. The leader, the large black man, a couple of the linebackers, and the woman with the stupid, ironic name. They had found us.

Charlotte was screaming in their grasp, trying desperately to move, but it was futile. They were more than twice her size.

Ian stood up next to me, and I almost wanted to pull him back down, but I knew it was useless. She was his sister. He was going to do everything in his power to save her. He would not let her die for him. I knew how he felt. I would have done the same for Mel or Jamie.

"You ready?" He asked me, his hand already in his pocket.

"Yes sir." I slipped my hand in mine, my other hand curling in a fist. This was going to end tonight, one way or another.

It took a few more moments for the Seekers to reach us and my anger just swelled more.

"You thought you could escape us." The leader growled. Charlotte's screams subsided into whimpers. She was looking at the ground, her body trembling. They came to a stop in front of us. Their shoulders were side by side, creating a thick, impenetrable wall in front of us. There was a large rock formation. We were cornered. Trapped.

"Did you really think that little _stunt_ you pulled at the hospital would trick us?" The woman sneered, smirking at Charlotte. "I do have to give you points for creativity though. None of the humans we have ever captured have been that clever."

It bothered me, the way they said _captured_. It made me feel like some wild animal. But, then again, maybe I was.

"Let her go." Ian's voice was hard and jagged, his hand in a fist by his side. "Take me."

"How sweet." The leader chuckled. "The puny human wants to bargain with us. He wants to save her life. Huh. I thought humans were all just heartless and cold." He continued to chuckle, but his gaze was anything but amused. He and Ian were locked in a staring contest, one that I am sure could have killed someone if they got in the way. "But, that does not change my mind. You are coming with us. All three of you."

"It might not be too late to save her." The woman nodded to Charlotte, who was still staring at the ground. Save her? What did she mean? Was Charlotte dying? "And maybe," her tone was getting sweet, almost to the point of nauseating. "Maybe we could save the two of you as well."

It went dead silent.

"Save us my ass." Ian grumbled, holding his gaze.

"Well then." The leader spoke. "If you will not come with us willingly, we have other methods."

It all happened way too fast. All I saw was the man in front reach into his coat pocket. I knew what was coming. His Glock.

So I dove.

I heard the shot before I felt it, the searing, burning pain. I staggered backwards, gasping for air. Ian took my place and jumped on the leader, wrapping his arms around his neck. When two other men tried to step in, that was when I went for it. The adrenaline in my body was keeping me from feeling the pain.

I ran into one of the men with full force, knocking him backwards. The other came at me, swinging for a massive fist. It connected sharply with my face, but I swung right back, hitting him square in the nose. The other got up and find came at me, but I skipped out of the way at the last second, causing him to run right into the other man. I took this spare moment to analyze my surroundings.

Ian was just a few feet away, hand to hand with the leader. Both looked bruised and bleeding, and I couldn't tell who was winning. The woman was standing next to Charlotte, who was still weak on the ground. _They must have beaten her before this._ I thought. That's why she was so weak.

And there it was again. Another loud _Crack!_ This time, it was Ian. He screamed in pain as a bullet tore through his left shoulder.

"Ian!" I screamed. I wanted to run to him, but the two men had gotten back up. They came at me together.

"Help me Sunshine!" I heard the leader scream from across the fight. I was a little more focused on the attack at hand.

One man came at me from the front, his large hands throwing me against the rock behind us. I hit the wall with a thud, and I felt a few ribs crack. I wheezed pitifully. We were losing this fight. But, I would rather go down fighting.

The man that had attacked me kept me pinned against the stone face, making it even more difficult to breathe. The other came up, about three feet away from me and pulled his own gun out of his pocket.

"We don't like your kind." He snarled. "You need to be peaceful, like us."

"Go to hell." Was all I could manage to spit out.

He held the gun about a foot away from my head, and put his finger on the trigger. I closed my eyes and thought of happy things. Melanie. Jamie. Wanda. My brothers. I was going to see my brothers again. I was going to see my dad, and my mom. And Walter. And Wes. We were going to be together again.

I heard the pop of the gun and I waited. I waited for it to tear through my brain, to kill me. But it didn't. I waited a little more. I heard another pop. I tense de once again, ready hi to accept my fate. But nothing happened. Nothing happened. The arm holding me back feel away and I Could finally breathe again. Tentatively, I opened my eyes.

The man that had been holding a gun to my was now clutching his chest. He made a weird choking sound. A sticky red fluid covered his hands and was spreading down his shirt. With another choke, he fell down on the ground. His body twitched for a few money's, and then it went eerily still. He was dead.

I looked up, and, directly across from me, there she was. Charlotte, holding a Glock, pointed right at where the mad had been moments ago. She had shot him. She had _killed_ him.

The man that had been holding me back looked about as stunned as I did. But, unfortunately, he recovered more quickly than I did. He pulled out his Revolver and popped one round off in my left foot. I howled in anguish. He slammed me against the wall, head first. The world went a little fuzzy. My shoe filled with warm fluid. _Blood_. My brain made the connection. Another pop sounded. The man next to me went down. From here, I could tell that she was trembling, the gun shaking in her small hands. It looked wrong, someone as small as her holding a murder weapon, but right now I didn't care.

My eyes wandered over to where Ian was. The leader and the woman were both on him now, pummeling him hard. I saw his shoulder soaked red with his blood. There was more blood spreading down his thigh. He had been shot there two. I wanted desperately to stand up and help, but I couldn't move. My legs felt like lead. I finally looked down and realized that the first shot had lodged directly in my right hip. I felt paralyzed.

Charlotte3 eyed my wounds, and she seemed to understand. Without another thought, she went in, Glock in hand.

It was all fuzzy for me after that. I was loosing a lot of blood, and I thought I had a concussion.

I only saw a few things.

I heard a lot of shots. I lost count after 6. I wasn't sure who was shooting and who was shot, but I knew that there had to be injuries.

I heard screams. Lots of screams.

I saw Charlotte jump on the woman's back.

I saw Ian hit the man.

And then I blacked out.

My head hurt. It hurt really bad. I felt someone gently lift my neck up off the rough sand, and felt it come to a rest in someone's lap. _Melanie? Was I dead?_ Someone had their hands in my hair. Suddenly, I felt something cool splash on my face. Water! Water!

I opened my mouth thirstily. I almost choked as the water flowed down my throat, but I didn't care. I was alive!

Carefully, I opened my eyes. My head throbbed painfully. The sun hurt my eyes. What had happened? How long had I been out? What about Charlotte, and Ian? Were they alive? Did they get taken? What was happening?

I began to shake out of fear.

"Jared. Jared." A voice whispered quietly. "It's okay. You're okay." Charlotte! Charlotte!

She was peering down at me. I almost didn't recognize her, her face was so bruised. Her nose was broken and there were cuts across all of her face, coating her tan skin in blood. But she was alive. She had a black eye, but other than that she was the….

Oh my god.

No.

No.

I looked at her eyes again.

It can't be.

The iridescent ring.

No.

No.

I screamed.

 **Please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Here's another chapter. Please don't hate me! I'm sorry! (Runs into corner and cries) I've been really busy. I hope you guys all like it. Please leave a review, or a comment, or a criticism. PM me if you have any ideas for a story or have any questions. Please Enjoy!**

Charlotte POV

I realized too late my mistake. I had been to focused on the fight and on the boys that I hadn't even stopped to think about me. And my carelessness had cost me.

Jared was full on screaming now. "Noooooo! Nooo! Not you!" He tried to scramble away, but the wall was behind him and he had nowhere to go. Ian ran over to him, and I quickly looked down, assuring that he couldn't see my eyes. I had messed this up real good.

"Jared! Jared! What is it?" He crawled next to him. He followed his terrified gaze to where I stood looking at the ground. "Charlotte? What is it?" His voice was soft, but I could hear the fear behind it. He had an idea as to what set Jared off, but so could tell he didn't want to believe it.

It was now or never. I had a choice to make now. Face it or hide it. Lie or tell the truth. Free or conceal. Fight or flight.

I looked up right at him.

Fight it was.

Ian's face turned ashen as he made eye contact with me, his worst fears being realized. He tried to keep his expression calm, but I could tell that on the inside, he was exploding with emotion. Sadness. Fear. Anger.

"How did they do it so quickly?" He whispered to Jared, but it was loud enough for me to hear it. "How did they do it during the battle?"

"They didn't do it during the battle." I said slowly. They both looked at me warily. Jared had finally calmed down. Not that I could blame him for his outburst.

"Then...when?" Jared asked timidly. It was then that I noticed he had his hand on his gun, ready to fire. He was scared of me.

"Years ago. Right after we got separated."

That seemed like to shock them. Ian made a sort of sputtering sound. Jared just looked confused.

"Was this all a trick then? Some trap to get us to lead you to our families?" Jared hissed spitefully, his dark eyes narrowing. I could tell I had hurt him. He thought I had betrayed him. I had to set things right.

"Right after Mom was shot, I...I lost it. I jumped out of the tree and grabbed one of their guns and just started shooting. I was small though. It didn't take long for them to restrain me. The next thing I knew, I blacked out." I explained.

"The next thing I remember waking up in the hospital, the same one I saved you guys from. Except, I wasn't alone. Her name was Soars in the Stars. She was a brand new one. I was her first Host. She was weak and young, and naive. I had a plan. I sat there, dormant in her mind, until we were released from the hospital."

"As soon as we got out, I put my plan into action. I waged a mental war against her. I put up walls, I blocked her from all of my memories. She tried to stop me, but a I was stronger than her. Slowly, she began to wear down. She got weaker and weaker, to the point where I had control over my own body."

Jared and Ian were staring at me, eyes wide. They still didn't completely comprehend what I was saying.

I decided to explain a little more. "They thought, since a I was a young kid, I wouldn't resist at all. I would be just like all their children. But they were wrong. They put a weak one in me, and I took control easily. She became so weak to the point where I could feel her dying inside me. She lost control over everything. Except my eyes."

"The eyes were the last thing she had control over. But it was a shared control. She finally relinquished control, but she was still connected to them. I had to physically make my body change them back to their normal color. That's why I stop and focus on something really hard. I am focusing, telling my brain to keep my eyes normal. It makes for good camouflage when I am among them, but not around humans. But during the, I got so distracted that I let my eyes go iridescent again."

They stared at me in utter shock.

"S...so you're saying, there was a Soul inside you, but now it's basically dead and you can control your own body and mind, but your eyes are still shiny, unless you make them not shiny?" Ian stuttered, looking at me like I had just told him I had a pet dinosaur.

"In short, yes." I responded.

"So, your human? You're in control?" Jared asked.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Ian questioned, his blue eyes locked with mine.

"I didn't want you guys to freak out and kill me, or think I was lying. I...I just wanted to see my family." I was crying silently now. "I get it, if you want to leave me here."

They both looked at me, this time their eyes full of pity. "Of course we're not going to leave you Charlotte. You're family. And family sticks together. Hell, one of the best people in my life is a Soul." Ian smiled, reassuring her.

Just then, Jared groaned loudly and fell backwards. I rushed over to him. It was then that I realized how shitty we looked.

Jared was deadly pale, even though he was as tan as ever. His pants were soaked in blood from a bullet wound in his hip. There was a hole in his foot, from what I was assuming was another bullet. His face was badly bruised, and he was wheezing, probably as a mixture of blood loss and broken ribs.

Ian didn't look any better than Jared. He had a gunshot wound to his shoulder and one to his thigh. His knuckles were bloody and raw. His face was a sickly shade of green and purple.

And, I couldn't tell, but I assumed that I looked just as terrible. My thigh hurt like hell, probably a deep muscle bruise, or maybe even a fracture. Even wilt seeing it, I could tell than my nose was broken and I had a black eye. My hands were slick with blood, but most of it was not mine.

"He's lost a lot of blood." I cried, kneeling over Jared. Ian slouched next year to him, looking him over. Jared's eyes were unfocused. "And with these wounds to his foot and hip, he won't be able to walk. How far is the cave?"

"Just a few miles north." Ian pointed. "But how could we get him there? I can't carry him that far, that quick."

I stared at Jared's pale form, racking my brain. There had to be something we could do. We couldn't leave him here to die. But we couldn't carry him.

Suddenly, it hit me. Crawled over, slowly, to my backpack and unzipped the largest pocket. Ahh, here it was.

"We'll have to drag him." I said, pulling out the large gray tarp.

Ian smiled at me with big blue eyes, "You're amazing, you know that?"

"So I've been told." I giggled. "Now, as soon as I finish helping him, help me get him on here. We need to get going."

I knelt down and got to work. I tore my extra shirt up into strips of cloth and wrapped them around Jared's foot and his hip. Hopefully it would help control the bleeding. I gave Ian a couple strips, and he did the same thing to his wounds. After a few minutes, I was satisfied with my work.

"Alright. Let's load him up." I said. "You excited Jared? Only the finest transport for my friends." He was weak, but I heard him chuckle. I laid the tarp out flat. And, as Ian lifted him off the ground, I heard a loud scream of pain, coming from Ian. The next thing I knew, they were both on the ground, and Ian was clutching his thigh.

"Shit." Now neither of them could walk.

Looks like it was up to me. Gently, I heaved Jared up and off the ground, impressed by mr own strength and laid him down on the tarp. I did the same thing to Ian, although he was a bit heavier. I stuffed by pack full with everything I had, and put their packs on the tarp in between them. I eyes all the dead bodies around me. I had killed them. All of them. I had shot every last one of them.

Shaking my head, I slowly took every weapon and every bit of ammo from each one. I didn't want to get stuck in a situation like this again. I fastened the tarp to my belt with a metal clip, and held two of the corners in my hands, and started walking.

My god, these two were heavy.

I turned and looked at them, and realized that they had both passed out.

This was going to be a fun walk, I said to myself, ignoring the searing pain that came from the bullet wound in my stomach. I could have wrapped it, but it would have done no good. The damage was done. A wound like this, it was deadly without the Soul medicines.

I had promised I would get those two there alive. I never said that I would be alive as well.

 **Please leave a review, follow, or fav. Things like that make my life!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Another halter for your enjoyment. Please forgive all of my grammatical errors. I wrote this at 1 in the morning...just warning you. Please leave a review! Tell me what you think!**

Charlotte POV

4 weeks. Unbelievable.

That's how long I had been stumbling around in the desert, pulling my crippled brother and my friend on a tarp behind me while we all slowly bled to death. Every step was sheer agony. My thigh was on fire. It was either broken or extremely bruised, and every step felt like I was getting stabbed over and over.

It's amazing how long a few miles is when your body is broken and beaten down, and you're carrying 300 pounds behind you.

Jared and Ian were getting paler and paler as the days wore on. In the beginning, they would stay awake and talk to me, keeping me entertained while I walked. Now though, they were rarely ever conscious. But even when they were, it was to difficult to speak for any length of time, so I mostly trudged on in uncomfortable silence.

They were getting thin. Our food supply was running out, and we were down to our last water bottle. Their blood was seeping through the makeshift bandages, dying their clothing red. Their breath was labored and ragged.

It was 4 weeks since the attack, 5 weeks since we started travelling, 7 weeks since they had been taken. These past 4 weeks had been the longest of my life. 28 straight days of waking in the blazing sun.

I probably looked like hell too. I was covered in head to toe with dirt and blood. Bruises covered my body, making my skin purple and blue. My clothes were sweaty and torn, clinging to my body. Blood had died my shirt. I managed to convince the boys that it was their blood and not mine, even though that was not the truth. The wound was becoming infected, the skin around it was a sickly green and pus had started seeping from it. I was no doctor, but I had a feeling that wasn't good. My body was exhausted, mentally, physically, emotionally.

After they were empty, I had left the boys packs behind, trying to lighten the tarp as much as I could. My pack was almost empty at this point. That was another bad sign.

We were still miles away from the caves, and I was slowing down. I had lost too much blood at this point.

I saw a few rocks ahead of me. They were tall, so they created a little shade. Thank god, I thought to myself. This was the first time there had been any way to block the sun in days. I needed a break.

I slumped down next to the rock, my back against the cold stone. I winced as my wounded stomach rumbled. I wanted to eat, but I restrained myself. We were nearly out of food, and I had to save it for the boys. They needed it more than I did.

I closed my eyes, resting my head on the stone behind me.

"Charlotte?" A quiet voice broke the silence. I peaked an eye open. Ian was looking at me with wide eyes, which surprised me. Neither of them had spoken in days.

"Yeah?" I mumbled, opening my other eye.

"You're amazing." He smiled softly. "You risked your life to save us. You fought for us. You...you killed for us. You saved our lives."

"It was nothing." Was all I said, softly.

I heard a scoffing noise, and looked down to see Jared now eyeing me. I smiled a little at him. They were both awake, which I definitely did not expect.

"Nothing." He laughed. "Charlotte, you saved our lives. You have us a chance."

It was my turn to scoff. "I brought you into the desert. You got shot, and now you're dying out here. Yeah. Good job Charlotte." I groaned sarcastically, sliding a little further down the rock. "We'll be lucky if we make it alive." I said the last part quietly, but not quietly enough.

"Don't say that." Jared said firmly. "You don't know that." I could hear the desperation in his voice. He so badly wanted to believe what he was saying. He wanted to believe that we were going to be okay, but I could hear that he was trying to convince himself with his words.

Silence overcame us once more, none of us knowing what to say. What was I supposed to say? We knew that our chances were getting slimmer and slimmer with every passing minute. Hell, even this little bit of talking had taken its toll on them. This was a death sentence. This road was a death march. Someone was going to die.

"I promise." my voice cracked with emotion as I spoke. "I promise that I will get you back to the caves. I swear that, with all my heart, I will do my best to get you back. I will get you back to them, or die trying."

This was the truth. The whole truth. This was my plan. I was going to do everything in my power to get them home.

"Melanie." Jared whispered, his eyes half closed. "I'm going to see her again. I know it. Melanie and Jamie."

"Kyle, and Wanda…." Ian trailed off, his voice low.

"What do you miss about the caves?" I asked, desperate to keep them awake. We hadn't spoken in days, and I was desperate for conversation. If they were awake, then they weren't dead, and that's all that mattered.

"The bathing room." Jared sighed. Ian chuckled and I giggled softly, wincing in pain at the sudden movement.

"My mattress." Ian smiled.

"Soccer." I nodded. I missed sports too. I had always loved playing in the yard with my brothers. I craved activity, competition. That was one him I really missed.

"The work, the distractions." Ian added. Jared grunted. Anything Had to beat being pulled around on a tarp all day, except for maybe pulling the tarp. Yeah, that wasn't much fun.

"The soap."

"The privacy."

"The protection."

"The games."

"The baby." Ian said softly. This caught my attention. I sat up, cringing. I looked at my big brother with wide eyes. The what? This seemed to surprise Jared too, because his dark eyes widened as he turned towards Ian.

"The what?" Jared asked, really confused.

"The baby." Ian said it a little louder this time, avoiding our gazes.

"What baby?"

"Mine." He whispered.

"What?" Jared and I both said, quite loudly. I stared at my brother. His baby? What the hell?

Then, it seemed to dawn on Jared. "Wanda's….."

"Almost 4 months." Ian nodded, looking down at his bloody feet. I just kept staring at him. Jared looked at his face, his eyes wide with shock. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ian cut him off. "Look, I know what you're thinking. Yeah, it may seem stupid or reckless to have a baby in this world. It seems careless and immature, but I don't care. Wanda doesn't care. We already talked about it. She wants the baby, and, you know what? I want it too. I mean, this is my kid. My kid. I don't care what you hunk. We're having this baby."

"All I was going to say was congratulations." Jared said in a calm, kind voice. "You love Wanda. Wanda loves you. I'm happy for you guys."

This seemed to surprise Ian. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah." Jared nodded. "I know that I once told Mel that I never wanted to bring a kid into this world, but now I realize that, in order for our race to survive, we need to keep on living. Maybe having a baby around wouldn't be too bad."

"Thanks man." Ian smiled at his friend.

I smiled too. "Well, now we really have to get back. I'm not leaving that baby fatherless." I had more family, a little niece or nephew. My brother was going to have a kid. With a Soul. What a strange world.

"Thanks Cha." He smiled. I leaned back against the rock and closed my eyes. This made things even harder. Now I knew that, if I failed, not only was I leaving their wives alone, I was leaving an innocent child fatherless. That was something I couldn't do.

It was not long before they were all asleep, the new information sitting heavily in their minds.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I woke up early. The sun was still low in the sky, casting an orange light over the desert. I desperately wanted to eat something, but we had used the last bit of food last night. My stomach ached sharply as I stood. A mixture of heat and blood loss made me nauseated and woozy. The boys were out cold. Our talk last night had knocked them out cold. They probably wouldn't be up for a few hours, if they were up at all.

I began to stagger forwards, the familiar sound of the tarp behind me. I fell into a monotonous routine, going step by step, hour by hour. My body was drained. The pain in my leg grew sharper and I could now feel blood running down my abdomen. My head killed, like I had a concussion, which I probably did. I didn't know how much further I could go. I couldn't keep this up for another day, let alone more.

My vision began to blur as the sun bore down on me. My throat was nearly swollen from the dryness. I felt nauseous. I probably would have thrown up if I had had anything in my stomach. My legs were going numb, and my hands were shaking.

Suddenly, I collapsed onto the hot, coarse sand.

I looked over at the men next to me. They were out, cold. Jared was paler than ever. I could hear Ian wheezing. They were nearing the end of their ropes. They wouldn't survive the night. I knew that, they knew that.

But there was nothing I could do. I was too exhausted. My body couldn't handle any more. Even as I tried to sit up, I shook violently before collapsing once again.

My eyes were filled with black dots. My head was throbbing. I fought the urge to cry. I had failed them. Both of them. Jared and Ian. I had promised them…..

And I Couldn't deliver. Here I was, broken, bleeding, dying on the ground. I couldn't keep going. The caves were too far, the tarp was too heavy, my body was too damaged.

I could feel myself bleeding out here and now. It was soaking my shirt and my pants, seeping onto the ground. I was going to die here, in the middle of the desert, in a pool of my own blood. Ian and Jared were beside me, creeping into the darkness as well. This was the end of the line, the end of the tunnel.

My body shook as sobs racked my body. "I'm so sorry." I whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry…" I continued until I my voice was so quiet that no noise came our. I wasn't just apologizing to Jared and Ian, I was apologizing to everyone.

To my mom, to my dad, to Dylan and James, to Melanie, to Wanda, to the baby.

I had failed them, alll of them, by giving in.

My eyes were growing heavy and I was about to give in to the darkness, until an idea came to me. It sprouted in the back of my mind. It was my last shot, my final chance.

My Hail Mary.

With all the strength I had, I pulled myself up, onto my feet. Breathing heavily, I staggered forward, my fingers getting soaked in blood as I touched my injured stomach. There was only one thing left to do. I shot one last look to my companions.

"I love you Ian." Was the last thing I said beige stumbling away, using every ounce of energy I had.

This had to work.

It had to.

 **Review! Please! I would love you! I want to know what you think!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Here's a new chapter. Please leave a review for me. I would love to wake up to a couple reviews. I hope you like how the story's going. Please enjoy.**

Kyle POV

I stared at her, my eyes full of shock. Did I just hear her right? Did she just say what I think she said? She was sitting across from me, eating soup and bread along with me. But a moment ago, she had said something that had made my heart stop.

"Sunny?" I raised an eyebrow, leaning back. "Are you...are you sure?"

She looked at me with soft eyes. They were sad, but firm. "Yes Kyle. I'm sure. She's back. She's been coming back slowly for a while. I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want to get your hopes up, just in case….but now I know she's back."

I was at a loss for words. She was back? "Jodi..Jodi's back?"

She smiled gently at me. "Yeah." She paused for a few moments, scrunching her eyebrows like she was focusing hard. I knew she was talking to Jodi, the same way that Wanda used to talk to Melanie. "Jodi wants me to tell you that she loves you very much, and that she's proud of how you've changed." At this, my eyes teared up. Jodi was here. Those were her words being spoken.

"And there is something else I want to tell you." Sunny snapped me out of my thoughts, placing a hand on my arm. Her tone was serious.

This concerned me. My brow creased in a concerned way. What now? "What is it Sun?"

"I'm going to Doc. I'm going to have him take me out."

I dropped my fork when the words came out of her mouth. "Wh...what?" I stuttered. "Really?"

"Yes really." She laughed quietly. I opened my mouth to protest, but she quickly cut me off. "And don't you dare try and stop me. I've already made up my mind, and it's not going to change."

I nodded slowly. "So uh, should I go out and find you a new body?" I asked.

"No." She shook her head, looking down.

No? Why not? Did they already have a body for her? Has this been planned for weeks? Has everyone known about this before me? Why else would she not….oh. The color drained from my face. "Sun…." I said quietly. "What planet are you going too? I thought you liked earth. I thought you liked humans."

"I do love it here." She whispered. "That's why I'm not leaving."

"Then where are you going?" I was completely confused as of now. She wasn't getting a new body, but she wasn't leaving. Where was she going? Then, all of the sudden, it clicked in my head. "Sunny…" I said in a warning tone. "No."

"Yes Kyle." She said, with more force than I had ever heard her use before. "I love you, but Jodi loves you too, and I know you love her. I want to do this. I'm going to be buried next to Walter and Wes, and I am going to be happy, knowing that you and Jodi found each other. I am glad to go this way."

I just stared at her. What was I supposed to say to that? How was I supposed to respond? Sure, I loved Sunny. She was amazing. She was smart, kind, caring. But, I didn't love her the way I loved Jodi. I missed her sarcasm, her dumb jokes, her honesty, her adorable snort when she laughed. I had her body back, but I didn't have Jodi. My wife, my love. I wasn't about to tell Sunny not to do it. Because not matter how much I loved her, I lived Jodi more. But I couldn't say that.

Apparently, I didn't need to say anything, because she moved her hand onto my shoulder. "Kyle. It's okay. I want to do this. I know how you feel about me, and I know how you feel about Jodi, it's okay."

I could feel a tear forming in the corner of my eye. She was so kind, so selfless. I grabbed her hand, holding it in mine. "Thank you." I breathed quietly, squeezing her hand lightly. "Thank you."

She looked at me. "I'm going tonight, Kyle."

"Tonight?" I was surprised. That was really, really soon. "Why? Don't we have to tell the others first?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "They already know Kyle. You're the last one I told. I figured it was easier that way."

I sighed at this. "Tonight?"

"You lost your brother, the last person you had. You need Jodi now, sooner rather than later. Trust me. I want to do it tonight."

I smiled softly at her. "Thank you Sunny. Out of all the souls that could have been put in there with Jodi, I'm glad it was you." This caused her to smile. I truly meant it. We had lucked out with her and Wanda. They were two of the kindest souls in the universe. The fact that both of them had come here and were willing to die for the humans they had invaded, that was amazing.

"You're welcome Kyle." She grinned. Then, she stood up off of her seat, wiping her hands off on her legs. "I'm going to go talk to Wanda real quick. Say goodbye." And the she walked off, leaving me there to sit and stare at the wall.

Jodi was coming back.

At least someone was.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOI

Only Wanda, Jeb, Doc, and I were in the hospital that night. Sunny had wanted it that way. She didn't want to make a big deal about it. We were her closest friends in the caves. She only wanted us there.

I was holding her hand and she was lying on a cot in the center of the room. Wanda stood by her head on one side, and Doc stood on the other. Jen was at the foot of the cot, watching with sad eyes.

"Thank you for this Sunny." The older man gave a soft smile. "It's been wonderful to have you."

"Thanks." She said.

"You will be missed." Wanda said gently in her sweet voice, stroking her long brown hair.

Sunny smiled at her softly. "Be sure to tell that baby all about me."

"I will." Wanda giggled.

"Okay Doc. I'm ready." Sunny breathed. I squeezed her hand lightly. She gave me a small smile and I returned it. I was having mixed emotions. I was sad to see Sunny go, but I was ready to be with Jodi again. Slowly, Wanda sprayed the mist over her face, and she inhaled it, and in one second, she was out.

Steadily, Doc cut into her neck and slowly coaxed the timid soul out of the body. Wanda held an open cryotank in her hand. When I used to see souls, I would cringe. I wanted to squash them, like a bug. Now when I saw them, I felt differently. Sunny was beautiful. The way her legs rippled like little silver ribbons in Doc's hands was breathtaking.

The whole process took only a minute or two. Before I knew it, Doc was smoothing out the scar on Jodi's neck. Wanda was holding a full cryotank in her arms, close to her chest. It was hard to believe. Just like that, Sunny was gone. Now all I had to do was wait.

And man, I didn't have to wait long.

After a moment of sitting there, holding Jodi's hand, her eyes began to flutter open. "Jodi." I called softly, trying to bring her around. "Come on Jods. Wake up."

Wanda came and stood next to me, her arms still full. "Wake up Jodi." She smiled.

Slowly, her eyes opened, and I almost cried when I say her dark brown eyes. They were just brown. No shimmer. No ring. They were her eyes.

She opened her mouth a little. "Kyle?" She croaked, looking up at me.

I started crying, right then and there. "Oh god Jodi." I cried softly, kissing her hand. "God I missed you."

"Kyle." She said again. "Oh Kyle." She was crying a little. "You found me."

"Did you ever doubt I would?" I smiled, standing up.

"Honestly, yeah. A little bit." She chuckled. I rolled my eyes. This is the Jodi I know and love. I bent over and kissed her on the lips. It had been so long since I had kissed someone. I didn't realize how much I had missed it. The feeling of her lips against mine. God, I loved her. I loved her so much.

When I pulled away, she smiled up at me. "I missed you." I just smiled, grabbing her hand again. She looked around, and noticed that Wanda was standing there silently, smiling at the two of us. "Wanda." Jodi smiled back.

"Jodi." She said.

"Thank you." She said quietly. "Thank you for helping me, for teaching them how to bring me back. I owe you everything."

"It's nothing." Wanda shrugged her shoulders.

"It's more than nothing." She shook her head. "You got Kyle to trust a soul. You got Kyle to change his mind about something. I've never been able to do that. And, you're basically Ian's wife, which makes you my sister. You're my family Wanda. You saved me. I owe you a whole hell of a lot."

"Thank you Jodi." Wanda smiled. Jodi's eyes landed on the cryotank in her arms.

"Sunny…." she reached out and gently stroked the tank. "Thank you." She whispered, and it took all of my strength not to start crying again.

"We need to bury her soon." Wanda told me. "Before it gets dark."

"Okay." I nodded, standing slowly. I was about to walk away when Jodi tugged on my arm. "What?"

"I want to come." She said simply.

"No. You need to rest." I told her flatly.

"Come on Kyle. Please?" She gave me her puppy dog eyes. God, I had forgotten about the puppy dog eyes. I could never say no to those eyes.

"It's fine Kyle. She can go." Doc said quietly, nodding at me.

"Alright." I groaned. I helped her off the cot, and put my arm around her shoulder. She was fairly tall, but still shorter than me, so I could walk like this fairly easily. Slowly, we made out way out of the hospital, with Jeb and Doc in front, me and Jodi in the middle, and Wanda trailing behind.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Everyone had come out of the caves to bury Sunny. Apparently, she had touched more lives than I had known about.

Everyone was here. Even Maggie and Sharon showed up. I think they were just using it as an excuse to get outside, but at this point, I didn't care. I had Jodi beside me. And at this point, that was all I needed.

We stood in a small circle around the tiny hole Andy had dug in the ground. The small cryotank let off a small light. The sun was setting slowly, casting an orange haze over the flat desert.

There was another reason for us all coming out here. This wasn't just a funeral for Sunny. It was a funeral for Jared and Ian as well.

We had never said it officially, but we all knew it was. We were all out here to mourn them. We had lost two good people, two good humans. My brother and my friend.

I stood there quietly, my arm around my wife, silently mourning for Ian and Jared. I missed them. I missed them so much. But they were gone. And I had to accept that fact. They had been shot. I had watched them die. They didn't put souls in adult humans anymore….not after Wanda. They were really gone.

So I decided to remember the best things about both of them.

Jared had always gotten on my nerves, but I couldn't deny that he was a good man. He had taught us how to raid, how to survive. He had kept us from killing Wanda. He had changed all of our lives for the better.

And Ian. God Ian. He was the last one. The last member of my family to survive. He was the one who had changed me, who had helped me learn to trust the souls. He was with me even when everyone else I knew and loved was gone. He was one of my oldest friends, my most trusted allies, my favorite people. He was my brother.

I noticed that Wanda was crying silently next to me, her eyes glazed. Mel was standing next to her, her eyes hard. A few stray tears slid down her cheeks, hitting the dry desert sand. I had never seen her cry before. It was weird. She was always so stoic, so strong. But Jared and Ian's death had changed everyone. It had broken everyone.

It had left us all scarred.

We mourned in silence for our fallen friends. Andy stepped forwards and filled the hole, covering up the cryotsnk with dirt.

"Goodbye Sunny." Jodi said quietly beside me. I pulled her closer, giving her shoulder a squeeze. The two had grown so close over the past year. This had to be hard for her.

I don't know how long we stood out there, but it was nice. Everyone had a chance to grieve, to mourn. We all needed this.

Then, the silence was broken by the distant roar of an engine. Everyone immediately tensed. I whirled around, facing the direction the sound was coming in.

"Shit." I hissed, reaching for the for the gun strapped at my belt. I shove Jodi behind me protectively.

"Seekers?" Brandt questioned, pulling his knife. Melanie turned as well, pulling Wanda behind her I the same way I had done to Jodi.

"Probably." Jeb cocked his shotgun.

As the vehicle got closer, we could actually tell what it was.

"Is that….our jeep?" Melanie asked, looking at the rest of us.

Holy crap. It was. Our keep was coming over the horizon, flying at us at well over 100 miles an hour.

"Holy shit." Brandt cussed. We all looked at eachother. I could tell that the same thought was going through each of our minds. Jared and Ian. They knew where the jeep was. They knew where the caves were.

I tried to keep my emotions in check, though.

"Seekers probably found our cars." Jeb grunted, holding up his gun. "Everyone go inside. Now!" He yelled. At that, everyone started running towards thr caves, but it was no use. The car was barely ten feet away when it slammed to a stop. I took a step back, trying to avoid getting hit.

After the engine turned off, the driver's door opened. Andy, Aaron, Brandt, Jeb, Mel, and I raised our guns and knives. We were prepared for whoever came out of the car.

We saw boots hit the ground as a figure came around the door, walking, no stumbling into view.

It was a girl. She was really short. Her clothes were torn and stained. Her face was covered in dirt and sweat. Her entire body was soaked with blood. She was clutching her stomach with one hand, and she was limping. Bad. Her hair was covered in dirt and stuck up in strange places. Her skin was pale, and she was skinny.

She staggered closer to us, and we stepped back, still aiming our guns at her.

"Holy shit." She croaked. Her voice was dry and cracked, like she hadb't drabk anything in days. Judging by the looks of her, she probably hadn't. "I did it." She stepped forward again. She kept muttering that same phrase over and over again:

"Now don't you move." Jeb said forcefully, stepping forward. She was too far to see her eyes, and I honestly had no idea if she was a soul or not. "What did you do?"

She looked up at us. "I did it." She whispered. Suddenly, she took one more step forward and screamed, crumbling to the ground. I watched in horror as her femur burst through the skin of her left leg.

"Oh my god!" Aaron yelped in a very unmanly way.

We stared, horrified, watching her writhe in pain in the dirt. None of us knew what to do. She laid there screaming for a moment, before her whole body trembled, and she was silent.

We stood there in shock for a moment. Was she dead? What just happened?

"The hell…..?" Brandt said quietly. We all looked to Jeb. He would know what to do. Right?

"Let's go check the jeep." He grunted. He nodded to us. "Then we'll take her in. Check her out." We knew what he meant by check her out. Either take a soul out or gain another human. Andy and I nodded, and began to walk forward. I could hear Paige protest behind me, but we ignored her. Brandt and Aaron were close behind us.

"Be careful." Mel called behind me. I nodded at her, trying to be reassuring.

Slowly, we crept forward, keepingnor distance from the girl on the ground. We walked towards the car, our guns still raised. Carefully, Andy grabbed the handle to the back door. Everyone was watching us from about 20 feet away, clumped together in a late group. Jodi was holding onto Wanda's arm in a caring way. Jamie had his arm held out protectively in front of Wanda's protruding belly. We were family. We protected eachother.

"Do it." I nodded to Andy. Quickly, he pulled the door open, stepping back, out of the way. I lifted my gun towards the seat.

And then I dropped it.

"Oh my...oh my…..holy shit." I stuttered, clutching my chest. Slowly, I fell to my knees. "Holy shit. Holy shit." I could feel tears falling down my face.

"Kyle?" Brandy asked behind me, his voice full of concern. "Kyle what is it?"

I stood up slowly. My whole body was trembling, shaking with each sob. I turned and looked at the everyone watching me.

"It's them." I sobbed, moving out of the way, so everyone else could see into the back of the jeep.

There, lying on the back seat, were two skinny, beaten, and bloody bodies. They were dirty and their clothes were tattered. But that didn't matter. I knew who it was.

Jared and Ian.

 **What do you think? Please leave a review!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Guess who's back... back again. It's me! And my story! Please enjoy another chapter. I would really love it if you left a review for me! Sorry for any grammar mistakes. I am so dumb when it comes to things like that. Please enjoy!**

Charlotte POV

The first thing that hit me were the noises. The sounds of many voices talking over one another, the steady babbling of conversation. It startled me. There had to be at least 10 voices going at once. I hadn't been around this many bodies in forever.

Suddenly, my breathing began to quicken. I felt like I was choking on air. I couldn't remember anything. Where was I? Where was I? Am I… no. No. I couldn't be back with the Souls. I couldn't. I had come so far, struggled for so long. I couldn't be back there.

"Hey! She's waking up!" A voice called over the noise. A hush fell over the crowd. I could hear the shuffling of feet. My breath hitched in my throat, and I began to choke on the air. Horrible coughing noises escaped my throat as I struggled to breath. My eyes were still glued shut, so I couldn't see what was going on around me.

"What's happening?!" Someone whispered. The voice was small, delicate. I imagined it came from a small woman, someone kind.

Finally, I gulped in a large breath of air. My breathing slowed down dramatically, and I could almost hear my heart rate going down. I laid still for a moment, calming my body, before I finally decided to open my eyes.

It was harder than I thought it would, like my eyes had been glued shut. It took all the focus I had to open them, and even then, they only opened a little bit at a time, but that was a good thing, because I was not prepared for the bright lights above me. Where was I?

In a blurry haze, I could make out the shapes of three, no, four faces hovering abover me. They were all male. As my eyes adjusted, their features came into view. One was an older man, with a long, flowing white beard and crazy looking eyes. There was another man with kind eyes, but he had an intense look on his face. The two faces above me were dirtier than the others. Their eyes were slightly sunken, and their skin had an odd coloring to it, but I knew who it was.

"Ian!" I called. "Jared! You're alive!" My voice was horrible. It was rough and coarse, and even my yell was barely more than a whisper. My throat burned with every sound. How long has it been since I've had a drink of water?

"Char!" Ian cried. He reached out a hand and pushed a hair out of my face. "Oh god Charlotte." He whispered.

"We thought you were dead!" Jared said, his voice racked with emotion.

"I thought you were…." and then I trailed off, not needing to finish my sentence. My eyes wandered to the two other men looking at me. Their gazes were now startled, uncertain, like something had scared them. "Where am I?"

"You guys never told us she was….." the older man gestured to me.

"What?" Jared shot him a questioning glance. "Never told you she was what, Jeb?"

"A soul." The older man, Jeb, answered.

I laid there, confused. I wasn't a soul…. oh wait. Oh god, my eyes. "Shit!" I hissed. I had totally forgotten about my eyes. Quickly, I focused and changed them back to their natural blue.

"Holy shit!" The other man hissed, leaning back in surprise. "How'd...how'd you do that?"

"It's a talent she has." Ian chuckled, still stroking my hair. I smiled at him, and then began to sit up. I instantly groaned as burning pain shot all up and down my body, but I continued to sit up anyway. I was uncomfortable with everyone looking down on me.

"Woah, woah, woah." Jared put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't hurt yourself."

I rolled my eyes at him. "It's a little late for that, isn't it." He let out a low chuckle, and I did to. My body burned with each movement, but I tried to hide the pain. I didn't want to cause a scene. "Now back to the first question. Where am I?"

"The caves." Another voice said. I looked forwards and stifled a yelp. Standing in front of me was a group of almost 40 people. Old people, young kids, women, men, dark skin, light skin. It was the most random group of people I had ever seen, and they were all staring directly at me.

"Oh." Was all I could manage. I tried to avoid eye contact with anyone, so I settled for looking around the room. People were sitting and leaning on benches and tables made of stone. The room was not wide, but it was very tall. Electric lights strung on the walls illuminated the whole room. I could smell food coming from behind me. This was some kind of cafeteria or kitchen.

"Are you a Soul?" The kind face man blurted out. Everyone's attention shifted to him, and I leaned back, alarmed by his abruptness.

"Doc!" Ian hissed.

"No Ian. It's fine." He gave me a questioning look, but didn't press me anymore. I gave him a small smile. I looked back at Doc, choosing my words carefully. "I was… well, I still am… well…. it's complicated."

"How do you control your eyes?" He added. "Are you not a Soul?"

I laughed a little at his confusion, but the laughter was more nervous than anything else. "I was. I had a Soul inside of me at one time." I was now very aware of everyone listening to me. "But… but she… she kind of… died. She… disappeared. The only thing she can still control is my eyes, but I can change them back if I really want to. It's, it's complicated." I was now babbling, uncomfortable with everyone watching me. Every single one of them looked utterly confused, except for Doc, who looked mesmerized.

"Wow." He breathed. "That's… that's amazing."

"Yeah, I guess." I laughed nervously, unsure of what to say next. I down at myself, checking for my wounds. I was surprised when I didn't find any, just a few bruises and scrapes, and a whole hell of a lot of dirt. My thigh was perfect, no sign of the compound fracture that had knocked me out earlier. I was fine. "Holy shit." I whispered to myself. I looked at Ian with wide eyes. I felt tears coming on. "I did it."

"Yes. You did." He smiled, stepping closer to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "And you almost killed yourself doing it."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I only promised I'd get you guys back alive. I never said anything about myself."

At this, a small murmur broke through the crowd. A small woman stepped forwards. Her stomach was swollen, very different from the rest of her petite frame. She had beautiful curls and a sweet, delicate face. Without having met her, I knew exactly who she was.

"Thank you." Wanda smiled. "You saved them. You sacrificed yourself to save them. Two humans you didn't know."

"It was nothing." I mumbled awkwardly. I was very bad at speaking to people I didn't know.

"It wasn't nothing." Another woman came forward. She was tall and lean, with long brown hair and beautifully tanned skin. Melanie. "You brought them back. We thought they were dead. You… you saved them. And for that, we owe you everything." A silence fell over the room. Then, Melanie spoke up again. "And we don't even know your name."

At this. I looked at Ian and rolled my eyes. "How long have you been awake?"

"An hour or so." He shrugged.

"And you haven't told them the whole story?" I cocked an eyebrow at my brother. His face flushed red, and I knew he was right. I rolled my eyes. Classic Ian. Always forgetting the important things. I looked back to the crowd and sighed. "I'm C…."

"You guys are up!" A deep voice boomed from the back of the crowd. Everyone immediately split, creating a path from us to the newcomer.

When I saw him, I had to stop myself from passing out. He was a little taller, a bit more muscular, and his nose looked like it had been broken a few ones, but it was him. It was…

"Kyle!" Ian cried, rushing forwards to our brother. The two embraced.

"I thought you were dead you little shit!" Kyle hissed, patting Ian on the back. And then, more quietly, he added. "I love you man."

"I love you too." Ian sighed, giving Kyle one final squeeze before pulling away. I was holding back tears of joy. Slowly, I walked towards, bringing people's attention back to me. Ian stepped away, so Kyle could see me clearly. Since there was no recognition in his eyes, I knew he didn't know who I was.

"Thank you." Kyle breathed, smiling down at me. He was a good foot taller than me, if not more. "Thank you for…. for saving them. For saving me." He reached out a hand, offering a handshake. I just looked at him.

"You really don't know, do you?" I chuckled.

"What?" He looked startled, confused by my question.

"You don't see it, do you?" I sighed, shaking my head. "You know, you didn't used to be this obtuse. You used to be able to pick me out of a crowd, to find me in a sea of others. And now you don't even recognize me, your own sister."

They confusion spread on his face, until it gave way to a brand new emotion. Shock. "Wha...wha….." he stopped and took a shaky breath, kneeling down so his face was closer to mine. "Charlotte?" He whispered.

"I missed you Kyle." I cried, before I buried myself in his arms. I felt another pair wrap around me, and knew that Ian had joined in on our little reunion.

Standing here, wrapped in the embrace of my brothers, feeling the love and happiness of family, I had never been so at peace in my life.


	20. Chapter 20

**So that's the end of the story there! I may throw in an epilogue when I have more time to write, but for now that is the end! Let me know what you think of the story. Any kind of feedback would be good.**

 **Feel free to check out my other stories.**

 _ **Songs to Live and Die**_ **By- A Walking Dead fanfic**

 _ **Never Underestimate a**_ **Half-Blood- a Percy Jackson fanfic**

 _ **Take a Step Back- a Grey's Anatomy fanfic**_

 **If you're a fan of drama, action, and sarcastic OCs, then those stories are right up your ally. If you liked this story, my otgher ones are very similar. Please give them a read.**

 **Adios for now-** ** _Fantastical394_**


End file.
